


We're Not Friends

by zaynerpayner



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Harry Potter!AU, Hogwarts!au, Louis is lonely, M/M, cute epilogue :/, liam and zayn with omc's is minimal, lil bit of smut, the narry is pretty minimal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-18 16:58:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2355797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaynerpayner/pseuds/zaynerpayner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam was supposed to be in Slytherin, only he's not. Zayn's not sure why - Liam seems to have all of the asshole-ish qualities of a Slytherin. Niall's been pining for years and it finally pays off. Louis is lonely and whiny, but that's not to say he's not a good friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Not Friends

**Author's Note:**

> a big thank you to ariel for helping me make every major decision associated with writing this, to sam for making sure my hogwartsisms were on point, and to tj for listening to me whine and helping me edit. the title is from the song "friends" by ed sheeran. i hope you all enjoy!!
> 
> ~i don't own any of the people mentioned in this and i definitely own no rights to anything harry potter related thank u~

February 13, The Quidditch Pitch, **Liam**

“Actually, Christian’s going to play in the match against Slytherin.”

It felt like Zayn had reached over and physically slapped him across the face, that was how hurt Liam was. He was sure that the look on his face portrayed nothing less; he could feel his mouth slightly agape and his brow furrowed, even if he wasn’t consciously moving them. He _had_ to play in this match; beating the Slytherins was the only way to prove to his father – not to mention himself – that he wasn’t a complete and utter failure. Zayn knew that. Zayn _understood_ that.

Or at least that’s what Liam had thought.

“You’re kidding, right? Zayn, that’s got to be a joke. I’m – I’m a thousand times faster than him, and I – ,” although it wasn’t normally like Liam to grovel he felt all of his shame slipping away. This was important. He had to play.

“This is no joke. You gave up your right to play when you got caught sneaking around after hours. Not my problem.” With his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes as cold as ice, Liam could tell Zayn was being serious.

And then he was angry.

“You know what?” he started, feeling all of the blood bubbling up to his face. He knew he must look like he was going to explode, implode or both, but he couldn’t care much. “Just because you’re fucking jealous that I’m getting some with a hot seventh year doesn’t mean you have to lose the fucking game for us. Fuck you, Zayn.”

Hands clenched at his sides, Liam swiveled around on his heel and stormed towards the changing rooms, leaving a field full of awe-struck teammates to watch him go.

 

\--

 

September 1, The Hogwarts Express

The first day of Liam’s sixth year at Hogwarts came faster than he’d been ready for. He had mixed feelings about September first, mostly because it’d gone the same way every year since he left for his second year of school. It looked a little something like this:

Forced smiles from his mum and sisters, silence from his father. A few tense hugs and one kiss on the forehead before they sent him off. There were no teary eyes or heartfelt goodbyes. It wasn’t even until he arrived on the platform and found his friends that he actually started enjoying the day; it was easy to be distracted when he had Louis tugging at his hair and Niall squeezing all of the breath from his lungs with a hug. He knew he really shouldn’t expect more from his family after all of these years, but for some reason he always ended up feeling a little bit let down.

Now, though, sitting with Niall’s head in his lap and Louis stretched out on the seat across from them as the train chugged along towards the castle they spent their school years in, Liam felt a lot better. Finally he was headed back to the only place that he had actually felt home at since his first year there. This year, though, there was one pretty big difference.

Liam was different. He wasn’t the same curly-haired, scrawny boy that he had been for the past five years. In his efforts to stay out of the house as much as possible this summer he’d discovered a gym not far from where his parents lived and ended up hanging out there as much as he possibly could. Not to mention the change in his back-to-school haircut – when he’d told the stylist to cut it all off his mum had seemed a bit shocked, but she didn’t argue. Liam had never been an ugly guy, so to speak, but he felt more himself this year. Like his image fit his personality or something corny like that.

“D’you reckon,” Louis was saying, his socked feet resting on the glass of the window next to the seat he was laying on, “with your new dashing good looks, we can count on a few dates for Hogsmeade trips this year? Not that your old looks held us back or anything, but I think you’re going to get some excellent attention now.”

“Why, exactly, would my good looks be getting _you_ any dates?” Liam retorted, and he didn’t get much more than a scowl and the finger from Louis for that. Instead, Niall spoke up.

“I dunno what either of you are talkin’ about, I’ve always gotten dates,” he said, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Liam and one of Louis’ shoes thrown at him from across the compartment.

“Oi, Horan, I’ve gotten plenty of dates. It’s just Liam over there who’s been missing out.”

“Yeah, well, I’m already enough trouble for my family. The last thing I need is for them to find out that I’m into b – “

The opening of the compartment door cut Liam off, revealing none other than Zayn Malik. Zayn was a boy in their year – a Ravenclaw, just like Liam. But Zayn was a prefect, and the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He was much more than Liam could ever dream to be in his last two years at Hogwarts. Liam hated him.

“We’ll be arriving at the castle in about twenty-five minutes,” he told them, obviously not thrilled that he’d been the one to open _their_ compartment. Zayn had hated Liam and his friends since their second year when Louis had planned a prank on him that hadn’t gone quite as planned. Instead of planting what they thought was a Puking Pastille in Zayn’s breakfast, it’d been a Canary Cream; apparently Zayn wasn’t too keen on becoming a bird in the middle of the Great Hall, no matter how quickly he was changed back by Professor Chapple. “You should start getting dressed in your robes now.”

Before Zayn could shut the door once more, Louis – the bastard – turned to him with a bright smile on his face. “Liam’s thinking about going out for Quidditch this year.”

Immediately, all eyes were on Liam and he could feel the burn in his cheeks slowly spreading to his neck. It wasn’t even set in stone yet, just something he’d been tossing around. He was pretty sure the team needed a new Keeper and he was fairly certain he was fast enough for the position. But Zayn was the captain – the chances of him actually taking Liam onto the team were slim.

“Oh yeah?” Zayn snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Good luck with that. All we need is a new Keeper, and _that_ requires skill.”

“Hey!” Louis started to protest - but because he was too busy rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of it all - all he heard was a thump, signaling that Zayn had shut the door before his mate had had time to defend him. Which, really, was okay with Liam; he didn’t need to be embarrassed any more today than he already had been.

“Whatever, Li, you’ll just have to show him what you can do at try-outs, yeah?” Niall spoke softly, reaching up a soft, warm hand to pat Liam’s cheek. He smiled in thanks, a small shrug on his shoulders

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

 

\--

 

September 1, The Great Hall

 

The sorting always made Liam feel sort of sad. It wasn’t because it meant that he was another year older, and therefore another year closer to never coming back to Hogwarts. And it wasn’t because he had to part from Louis – who was a Gryffindor – and Niall – who was a Hufflepuff – and sit with his fellow Ravenclaws. He liked them well enough, even had a few guys he was friendly with from classes and such. With the entire Great Hall lit up with its beautiful lights and Welcome Back decorations, and the mountains of food just waiting to appear in front of them, it was pretty difficult to even think about those things. It was more of the fact that all of these first years had a fresh shot. They were going to be placed into a house today, and if they were lucky – like Liam hadn’t been – they would be placed in the one they wanted. The one they were _supposed_ to be in. The one their entire family had been in in the past.

If they were lucky, they wouldn’t be sorted into Ravenclaw when they were supposed to be in Slytherin, no matter what that stupid hat thought.

There was really nothing wrong with being a Ravenclaw. Everyone was nice, everyone extremely intelligent. If he ever needed any help on his Charms homework – not that he ever did, but still – there was always a common room full of smart and friendly people waiting to help him. But when literally every other person in his entire family before him had been placed in Slytherin, and Liam had been put in Ravenclaw? That was a twist. His father was so disappointed in him that he’d hardly even acknowledged his son since Liam had written home the first week of his first year to tell them what had happened. Liam really had nobody to talk to about it, though (none of the people sitting around him were his _real_ friends), so he had to just endure it. Which meant a lot of thinking about how his schedule for the semester was going to turn out, gazing at the teachers at their table to see if they had anyone new this year (nobody that Liam could pick out), and looking around the room for all the people that he knew. Which was when he made eye contact with Zayn.

It was only a quarter of a second before Zayn was whipping his head back to the front of the room like it’d never happened, but the way his eyes had been narrowed told Liam that it hadn’t been a coincidence. Zayn had been _looking_ at him, for God knew what reason. It threw his mind for a loop, honestly, to think that Zayn had been studying him so closely for probably the first time ever, and they’d been in the same house for over five years now. Was it because of the Quidditch comment from Louis earlier? That had to be it. There wasn’t really any other reason for Zayn to pay attention to him; they were in such different realms, different circles. If Liam _didn’t_ make the Quidditch team, they’d probably never speak a word to each other again.

Wiping the incident from his mind, Liam looked back up at the front of the room just in time to see Professor Chapple walking the stool and Sorting Hat out of the way so that Headmaster Ellwood could begin his Welcome Back speech.

 

\--

 

September 2, The Great Hall

The first night at Hogwarts was always the same: hanging out one of the three common rooms (this year they opted for Hufflepuff’s, as Niall had insisted he had eaten so much that he might explode, but Louis and Liam knew it was really just so that he could see Harry Styles before they all headed to bed), and then sneaking back to his room after hours without getting caught by Filch or a Prefect on rounds. It was a pretty easy task when he was on his own, and by 1 AM Liam was fast asleep in his bed.

Waking up hadn’t been fun, but by the time he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast and had found his friends sat at the Gryffindor table, he was in good spirits. Professor Chapple had long known to simply give Liam, Louis and Niall’s schedules to each other – they were practically always together – and his was waiting for him in the greasy hands of Niall.

“We’ve got Potions and Transfiguration together!” the blonde proclaimed gleefully with a full mouth that Liam had become quite used to over the years.

“Thank goodness,” Liam replied as he sat down, ruffling his hair. “Louis?”

“Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. All three of us have Potions.” The smug look on his face let Liam know he was satisfied with the turn out, and with that he started shoveling food onto his plate. “I heard that Styles kid talking, and apparently he’s in our class too.“

At the mention of the name, Niall was immediately blushing – it was impossibly to miss, especially to Liam and Louis. Wiggling his brows, Liam reached over to ruffle Niall’s hair once more.

“Gonna ask him to be your partner? If you don’t, I will.”

“Christ, we haven’t even gotten to class and you’re already bein’ a dick about it. At least gimme time to work myself up, will ya?” And really, it was pretty cute how flustered Niall was getting. Liam decided to let it go and turn back to his bacon.

Today was going to be a long day.

 

\--

 

September 2, The Great Hall

“Payne.”

The voice that interrupted Louis was one they’d already heard in the past day and a half, but yet it still surprised all three as they looked up to find Zayn Malik standing behind Liam and Niall, a stony expression on his face. Part of Liam thought he maybe shouldn’t be too surprised by the occurrence; today had been fairly normal and he was honestly just waiting for the weird part to come. It always did.

“Can I help you?” Liam looked up at Zayn with expectant eyes, not wanting to show as little confidence as he had last time they’d interacted.

“Professor Quinn has asked to see us. You and me. Immediately.” To prove himself, Zayn flashed a piece of paper with a note on it from the head of their house. Liam had no idea what this could be about – he’d only been here less than 24 hours, he couldn’t have done something to get him in trouble yet, could he? – but he started to stand up anyway.

“I’ll meet you guys back in the Gryffindor common room, alright?” he told his friends, stepping past Zayn into the aisle between the two tables. Before he took off, though, he gave the other boy a squinted look and a quick, “It’s ‘you and _I_ ’.”

 

\--

 

September 2, Professor Quinn’s Office

“I think Liam should be our new Keeper,” was the first thing Professor Quinn said once she’d welcomed the two boys and told them to sit down in the chairs facing her desk.

Judging from the look on Zayn’s face, he was just about as surprised as Liam was.

“ _What_? We haven’t even seen him play!” And, well – Zayn was right about that. Neither of them actually had seen him play. He’d gotten a chance to fly around a bit with Louis and Niall after classes ended (the teachers were surprisingly going easy on them with the homework for the first week) and he was pretty sure he had the skill – but nobody else really knew about that.

“Ah, but I have,” Professor Quinn leaned over her desk on her elbows, hands clasped in front of her face. “That was you messing about with your friends earlier this afternoon on the pitch, was it not, Mr. Payne?”

“Yeah – I mean, yes, ma’am. But I was only doing just that. Messing about.” “You were demonstrating the qualities of a good Keeper, in my opinion. I know I’m not the master on Quidditch tactics, but we need a good player to fill that spot and I think you have what it takes,” she went on, with seemingly no hint of a joke on her face. Zayn, meanwhile, was still sat next to Liam with his mouth agape. It appeared as though he had no words for the situation. “Malik here may have to train you a bit, but I want him to at least try you out for a few weeks.”

“But – _Professor_ – with all due respect, there’s got to be – this is a joke, right? I mean are you _sure_?” A small part of Liam was on Zayn’s side; was this really fair? Could the spot really just be _given_ to him? But at the same time, the idea of irritating Zayn this much was oddly thrilling to him.

“I’m sure. And I’ve booked the pitch for you two for tomorrow night, I suggest you get to work.”

The tone of finality in her voice signaled to both of the boys that the discussion was over and they were to leave. Standing up, Liam paused for a moment before he headed for the door.

“Thank you Professor. I promise I won’t let you down,” he told her honestly, and once she nodded her acknowledgement, Liam strode towards the door and shut it behind him, only to find Zayn waiting for him in the hallway.

“What did you do? Did your daddy donate a few thousand Galleons to the school to get you on the team?” It appeared that he was completely serious. Liam, to say the least, was offended.

“Are you _kidding_ me? Of course not, she must’ve been on the pitch when I was and I just didn’t know. Sorry you’re not the only one with ‘skill.’” He put air quotes around the word for emphasis, rolling his eyes at the boy standing across from him. As if his father would ever do him any sort of favors – not that Zayn would know that, but still. “D’you want me to meet you in the common room tomorrow evening, or out on the pitch?”

Zayn looked at him for a moment with that same stony facial expression that he’d used earlier.

“The pitch. Seven thirty. Don’t be late.”

With a swish of his robes, Zayn was gone like a puff of smoke.

 

\--

 

September 3, The Hufflepuff Common Room

“I think that’s all we need,” Harry announced, placing his quill down on the table and completely missing the heart-eyes Niall was making at him from his right. _Oblivious_ , Liam thought, but whatever. It wasn’t really any of his business to get Harry to notice what Niall felt for him; and really, the fact that his blonde friend had even gotten enough courage to ask the other Hufflepuff to be in their Potions group was a huge accomplishment. Liam was pretty sure Niall had been pining since they were little first years, even if the boy would never admit it. But with Liam and Louis working as partners and Niall needing to find one of his own, this was the perfect excuse.

“Just in time for Payno’s little excursion,” Louis cooed, a shit-eating grin on his face that Liam wanted to smack off, but he restrained. For some reason his friend had been making this out to be much more than it was intended all day, as if Liam and Zayn were going to become _friends_ or something. But if the hallway incident had been any indication, Louis was completely wrong. Zayn definitely hated him. And Liam didn’t care enough to try and change that. Rolling his eyes, Liam packed up his things without saying anything in response. “C’mon, Li, you can’t convince me that you’re not at least a little bit attracted to Zayn. The guy’s an Adonis.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Liam replied simply, the heat of Harry and Niall’s eyes on him burning holes in his skin. “Zayn and I aren’t friends, he’s just going to make sure I’m fit to be the team’s new Keeper. And once he sees that I am, there will be no more late night rendezvous’. I’ll just see him at practice and that’ll be it.”

Standing up, he swung his book bag over one shoulder and pushed in the chair. He had about half an hour to make it back to his room, change, and get out to the pitch. There was a part of him that wanted to be late just to see what Zayn would do about it – seeing him angry might be sort of funny – but he also didn’t want to push his chances of keeping his spot on the team. Arriving exactly on time would do.

“Will you at least come tell us how it goes afterwards?” Niall asked, his blue eyes wide as he looked up at Liam. Sometimes he was pretty sure Niall had an even better puppy-dog face than himself.

“Yeah, alright,” Liam sighed, taking a step backwards towards the door. “See you all then.”

 

\--

 

September 3, The Quidditch Pitch, **Zayn**

Zayn didn’t honestly know why he was doing it. It’s not like Professor Quinn would know (she couldn’t be secretly watching them right now, could she?). He could just tell her tomorrow that Liam didn’t show up. Or even better: that Liam had been a shitty player, and he didn’t think he was suitable for the team. Maybe Zayn could do that anyway; humor them with this one practice, and deem Liam unworthy. In fact, that’s what he was going to do, he thought as he lugged the chest of Quidditch balls out onto the pitch. Liam wasn’t there yet, but it was only 7:26 and Zayn had only told him to be on time. Not early.

After he placed the chest down, the raven made his way over to where he’d placed his broom earlier before he’d gotten to the shed, resting against the wall of the stands. He mounted the wooden handle and kicked off, hovering only a few feet above the ground and flying lazily around the area. Of all people, why had Professor Quinn had to choose Liam Payne for Zayn to have to deal with? Zayn was pretty certain Liam was the most obnoxious guy in their entire year, just short of his friend Louis Tomlinson. They’d been such dicks to him in their second year and they’d never bothered to apologize for it, and Zayn had held that grudge since then. It wasn’t just the stupid prank, though; it was the way they acted. Like they owned the entire school. Zayn had heard a rumor once a few years back that Liam was the first in his family that wasn’t sorted as a Slytherin, and honestly, it shocked him. Liam didn’t even seem smart enough to be a Ravenclaw – in Zayn’s eyes, he had all the asshole-like qualities of a Slytherin. He’d be better off there.

“It’s seven thirty.”

The words snapped Zayn out of his thoughts, only to find Liam standing on the ground a few feet away from him, broom in hand. It only took a quick glance at his own watch to know that Liam was right – he was exactly on time, the dickwad. Zayn couldn’t even be rude to him for being late.

“If we’re playing Quidditch, you ought to get on your broom, then,” was all Zayn replied, and he hardly recognized the complete lack of warmth in his own voice. He wasn’t normally a mean guy; he had lots of friends that laughed at his jokes and made him laugh in return. Even their old Keeper (a boy named Christian who had quit the team to “focus on academics”) was still sort of his friend even without Quidditch bringing them together. But for some reason, Liam brought out the absolute worst in him. Alas, the other boy did what he was told without any protest. Swooping down, Zayn grabbed the quaffle from where it was resting in the chest and flew up again so that he was facing Liam. “This isn’t going to be very effective seeing as I’ll be the only one throwing at you and I’m not even a Chaser, but whatever. I’ll throw you a few and we’ll see how well you do. Got it? Get behind the goal posts.”

It seemed like Liam wanted to say something snarky in return, but Zayn raised a brow and that was that; Liam was flying off towards the goals. He wasn’t sure if the other was listening to him out of respect, or merely the fact that he wanted the spot on the team, but it didn’t matter. Zayn didn’t feel like fighting with him right now. This was already taking enough of a toll on him.

“Right, well,” Zayn started when he caught up to Liam, floating a few feet away from the open hoops. Winding up, he threw the quaffle as hard as he could into one of the hoops and waited.

 

\--

 

September 3, The Quidditch Pitch, **Liam**

He caught it.

The first time Zayn threw the quaffle at him, Liam caught it just in time. And the next time? He caught it again. They’d been going at it for about forty minutes; Zayn tossing the ball from all different angles into different hoops and at different speeds, and Liam had only missed a handful of tosses the entire time. It was safe to say that when Zayn had called it off, telling him they were done for the night and the pair had touched the ground, Liam was riding high on his success. That was why he didn’t think much when he spoke up.

“Bet you’re glad you gave me a try now, huh?” he asked, a smug smile on his face. The look Zayn gave him was nothing if not resentful, a sarcastic roll of his eyes proving the fact.

“Whatever.”

And that was enough for Liam. He stood there with an unwavering smile as Zayn put the quaffle back in its compartment in the chest of Quidditch balls. He didn’t even think as he followed the other boy to the broom shed and waited for him to put the chest away. Was it weird that he was waiting for Zayn? Liam figured it shouldn’t be; they were going to be spending a lot more time together now that they had practice together, and they ought to get used to it.

“Are we going to do this again, then? Do I need to meet you out here for more one-on-one practice?” he asked as he tried to keep up with Zayn on the way back to the castle. He wasn’t about to let Zayn run away from him now.

“No. I’ll let you know when practice starts.”

“Cool.” He frowned for a second as they entered the doors of the castle. “So what are you, then?”

Zayn threw him a look that was a mixture of confusion and offence. “I mean, you said you weren’t a Chaser.

But I thought you were pretty good at that. So, what are you?”

“The Seeker.” Apparently Zayn was very determined to _not_ have a normal conversation with Liam. Typical. But Liam wasn’t giving up quite yet.

“Shit, that’s pretty cool. You were put on the team as a first-year, right? How’d that even happen? Wasn’t the last guy to get on a Quidditch team as a Seeker in their first year, like, Harry Pot – ?”

“ _Yes_. Thank you, Sir Obvious.”

A few moments later, they had reached the door to the Ravenclaw common room, and Zayn was no longer paying attention to Liam, simply stating the password and heading inside. Liam followed him, only because he, too, lived there, all the way to the doors to the dorm rooms.

“It’s ‘Captain’,” Liam told him quietly when Zayn reached out to open the door to his own room.

“What?” the raven turned to look at him, a confused expression on his face once more.

“It’s Captain Obvious.” Liam shrugged. “Night, Zayn.”

Without waiting for another word, Liam pushed his door open and headed to bed.

 

\--

 

September 14, Charms Classroom

Zayn was in Liam’s charms class.

Liam hadn’t noticed until the third or fourth day of the school year, but that was probably because Zayn sat in the back row and kept to himself. He only spoke when he was spoken to, constantly scribbling down notes in his notebook in black ink.

But it was why when Zayn decided to schedule their first team meeting of the year in the Room of Requirement during lunch – coincidentally the period before Charms – the pair ended up walking to class together. Late.

When they walked through the doors it was fairly obvious that the entire class had already paired up for whatever assignment they were doing today. Professor Quinn taught the course, lucky for them, so they wouldn’t get in trouble. Liam frantically looked around for Louis, only to find him staring regretfully back at Liam – he’d already been paired with a Gryffindor Liam faintly recognized. _Sorry_ , his friend mouthed at him, and Liam could only shrug; it wasn’t Louis’ fault.

“Ah, welcome, Malik. Payne. The class is just about paired up, so you’ll be working together, I suppose. Take a seat, won’t you?” the professor greeted them, gesturing to the only two open seats in the room. Without daring to glance at Zayn to see how angry he was, Liam walked over and sat down. He could hear Zayn sit down next to him, but he still didn’t look and said nothing. “As I was just saying, this project is going to last the entire term. Featured on your OWLs this year heavily are Summoning Charms, and we’ll be spending a lot of time on them. By the end of the term I also expect you to be able to be able to create legs on teacups. So, for this assignment, your partner and you will have to summon each dish in a tea set, and then each make one of the teacups walk across my desk. This won’t be easy, do not leave it for the last moment. I expect you to be working on it outside of class. For today, you’ll all be reading up on each of the charms. Go, go. Begin now, waste no time.”

“Great,” Zayn verbalized what Liam was thinking with just as much sarcasm. There was only a moment of them staring at each other before Zayn took it upon himself to speak. “Here’s how this is going to go: we each learn the charms on our own time, we practice them together in class, alright? This way we don’t have to spend any extra time together.”

“ _Fine_.” Liam fumbled around in his backpack for a moment before he came to a horrible realization. He didn’t have his Charms book. “Do you, uh, happen to have your textbook? I left mine in my room.”

For a moment Liam thought Zayn was going to punch him in the face, but instead he opened to the correct page of the book and slid it over the table so that it was between the pair without another word.

“Thanks,” Liam muttered, leaning over the book.

“Shut up and read.”

 

\--

 

September 16, The Great Hall, **Zayn**

In the past two days, Zayn hadn’t seen Liam once. They only had Charms twice a week, and they hadn’t had their first practice yet, and there had been no run-ins in the common room. It was sort of odd, if Zayn was being honest – but it was more odd that he’d actually noticed. It seemed like since that first day on the train, Liam had been seeping into every corner of his life, and Zayn didn’t know what to do about it. It made him uncomfortable, like he could crawl out of his skin. But at the same time, he found himself waiting for the next time him and Liam encountered each other.

Which, apparently, was going to be now.

He had just left the Ravenclaw table, saying goodbye to his friends after lunch, off to Charms. He knew he’d see Liam when he got there, but what he hadn’t been aware of was that he’d have to walk behind the guy, and his friend Louis, the entire way there. It appeared that they hadn’t noticed him, so Zayn kept quiet; the last thing he wanted to do was make awkward conversation the entire way there. What would they even talk about? Absolutely nothing.

“You think it’s gonna be okay?” Zayn overheard Louis asking Liam, who simply shrugged in return.

“Whatever. I know he doesn’t like me, but it’s not like we have to be _friends_ or anything. I just have to put up with him for the rest of the semester. Maybe it’ll make us better teammates or something.”

So they were talking about him. Interesting – not that Zayn cared. He couldn’t care less what Liam Payne or his annoying friends thought of him. They were irrelevant to him.

And the only reason he stood outside the door to the Charms room for an extra moment was so that they wouldn’t know he’d been eavesdropping – not because he was wondering if Liam wanted to be friends, or something. Obviously he didn’t – he’d almost blatantly said it a few moments ago – but he’d mentioned becoming better teammates, and what did that really mean? It didn’t matter much and Zayn didn’t have time to dwell, what with the fact that he had to get into class. So, dropping the subject, he entered the classroom and slid into the seat next to Liam just in time for Professor Quinn to begin class.

All they had to do for today was continue reading up on the assigned charms and start practicing them on whatever they had with them, so Zayn and Liam were left alone to work on their project. The first thing Zayn did was ask Liam if he’d been practicing, like he’d instructed him to do last time.

“Uh, yeah.” That was definitely a no. Sighing, he opened his textbook to the required page and turned to Liam.

“Just try it, I guess. Do your best.”

Liam looked like he wanted to protest, so Zayn raised his brow exactly the way that he had that time on the pitch, and Liam turned to pull out his wand. He’d have to remember that that seemed to work every time – not that he really planned on spending enough time with Liam to really need it again, but still. Folding his arms over his chest, he nodded at Liam once he was ready. “Alright, try it out.”

“Accio textbook!” Liam demanded with the flick of his wand, but nothing happened. The two made eye contact for a moment, but Zayn just nodded at him again. Trying once wasn’t going to do much. “ _Accio textbook!_ ”

Still, nothing.

Sighing once more, Zayn walked around so that he was standing behind Liam and could reach around him, not thinking very much about it as he reached for Liam’s hand. He felt Liam jump at the touch, but he couldn’t turn back now – no matter how fast his heart was racing – and he simply ignored it. Instead, Zayn moved Liam’s hand in the correct movement and told him, “Like this.” Then, he pulled back.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Liam mumbled, and Zayn suddenly wished he could see the other boy’s face; he wanted to know how hard he was blushing, if at all. For the first time ever, Zayn actually felt like he had some sort of power over Liam, and honestly, it was refreshing. He watched on, hiding the smirk on his face, as Liam tried once more. “ _Accio textbook!_ ”

Finally, the textbook flew full force at the pair; it’s force pushing Liam back into Zayn. A mixture of expletives fell from both of their mouths as they righted themselves, Liam rubbing at the back of his neck and Zayn dusting himself off.

“Sorry,” Liam mumbled – God, he was always doing that – and, yeah, his cheeks were definitely tinted pink.

“It’s fine. You finally did it,” Zayn replied as cordially as possible. “We can actually move on.”

“Aren’t you going to try?” There was a confused look on his partner’s face. “It’s really not fair that only I’ve got to embarrass myself in front of the class trying to learn the damn spell.”

“What? No, I mastered it last year.”

And that, well. That shut Liam up for the rest of class.

 

\--

 

October 2, The Locker Room, **Liam**

It was the day of their first Quidditch match, and they were set to play against Gryffindor. Louis had been stressing all day about whom he was going to root for: his own house, or his best friend. So much so that when Liam had tried to discreetly let him know that Harry and Niall were holding hands on the couch across from them he’d nearly screamed in Liam’s face. And then, when Harry had asked Liam why he’d been so quiet that day and Liam had started to explain just how nervous he was about the match today, Louis had bellowed, “You’re not the only one who’s stressing out about this, Liam, stop being so _selfish_!”

That was about when Liam had decided to leave.

Of course, he knew that Louis meant no harm; that was just the way his friend was sometimes. Liam had a feeling that Louis was actually secretly trying to distract him (something Louis would probably never admit to) and for that, he was grateful. It had worked, at least for the time being while he was back in the common room. The entire way across the grounds to the pitch, Liam thought he was going to pass out. Normally he didn’t get this nervous about things; he was pretty confident in himself the majority of the time. But now? There was too much at stake. If he did poorly not only would Zayn be able to hold it over his head forever, but he’d also be a failure yet _again_. And he’d probably be kicked off the team as well. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

When Liam reached the locker rooms, he slid inside to find that only a few of the other team members were there already – and there was no sign of Zayn, yet. His locker was waiting for him unopened and full of his game robes, gear and broom. Liam fiddled with the lock for a moment before the door swung open, and then he started to get changed. Better to do it now, he thought, than with Zayn watching him. For some reason the idea made him uneasy, but he pushed that away as he got himself ready for the match.

“You nervous?” came a voice from behind him a few minutes later, and Liam swiveled around to find exactly who he was expecting: Zayn. There must have been something about his demeanor that had given his feelings away, but the last thing he wanted was for Zayn to see any sort of weakness in him. So Liam crossed his arms over his chest and raised a brow.

“No, why would I be nervous?”

Something about the way Zayn rolled his eyes made Liam wanted to scream, but he held it in in order to keep his cool façade.

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t have let you on the team if I didn’t think you were good enough.”

Zayn didn’t bother to wait for Liam’s reply as he strode away, presumably to go finish getting himself ready for the match. Liam couldn’t help but feel like, yeah, maybe he would be okay.

 

\--

 

October 2, The Pitch

When Zayn had caught the snitch, Liam wasn’t even paying attention. The Gryffindor Chasers were relentless, tossing quaffle after quaffle at him, and he really had no time to think let alone look around to see how Zayn was doing. Which, apparently, was well. But when the crowd had erupted in cheers and Liam had looked up to see the other boy floating not ten feet away from him, snitch raised in the air, Liam couldn’t help but cheer himself. No matter their differences, Liam was happy to win – and honestly, sort of proud of Zayn. But he was also proud of himself.

He hadn’t let one goal in.

So when he found Louis, Niall and Harry after the game and they all engulfed him in a giant group hug, he just sort of let it happen. Honestly, Liam was sort of in shock. His first ever game and not only had they won, but he’d had a perfect game. That had to be some sort of record, or something. Either way, he felt like a champion – no doubt about that.

“Mate, you are a legend,” Louis grinned at him, and it was then that Liam realized that his friend was donning a Gryffindor cap and a Ravenclaw scarf. Typical.

“Thanks,” he grinned, reaching out to poke Louis in the chest over his scarf. “I appreciate the support.”

Niall and Harry were noticeably still holding hands, and they, too were sporting Ravenclaw gear. He hadn’t even become friends with Harry until this year and he even had his support. He’d have to thank Niall for that later.

“Brilliant, seriously,” Niall grinned at him, and Liam reached out to ruffle his hair.

“You did excellently, Liam,” Harry added. Liam felt like he was going to explode with happiness. All he wanted to do was write a letter to his family to let them know of the good news, but before he could do that he knew he was going to have to get through the after party that had probably already begun in the Ravenclaw common room.

“You guys gonna come to the party?”

“S’long as you don’t tell anyone I was there,” Louis winked at him. Liam winked right back, and the four started off towards the castle together.

 

\--

 

October 2, The Ravenclaw Common Room, **Zayn**

It was the perfect start to the season, winning with no points scored on them, and Zayn hated to admit to himself that he had Liam to thank for a lot of it. Of course, his catching the Snitch _had_ won them the game, but the fact that Liam had literally let no goals in made it that much better. It probably would’ve bothered him more if he wasn’t so happy, and if he wasn’t currently being congratulated from all sides in the middle of the common room, a warm butterbeer in hand. He could mope later about sharing the spotlight with Liam.

Speaking of whom, he hadn’t seen Liam around the common room since he’d gotten there. Sure there were a lot of people packed into the area, but he was pretty sure the other star of the game would have been pushed into the center at some point so far. Not that he wanted to see Liam, or anything. He was perfectly fine just relishing in the glory he was receiving right now. In fact, he could stay like this for the rest of the night without Liam ever showing up and that would be perfectly fine with him. Really, it would. He didn’t have to say anything to Liam.

But, of course, just as he suspected the second Liam entered through the common room door with his friends trailing behind him – one more than usual, actually – everyone was upon him and pushing him towards Zayn. Soon enough, they were standing next to each other, and like magic – pun completely intended – Liam had his own butterbeer.

Maybe it was the adrenaline he’d gotten from playing, or maybe he was just an idiot, but Zayn felt himself opening his arms and leaning towards Liam for a hug.

“Good job, man,” Zayn told him honestly, patting him on the back. Much to Zayn’s surprise, Liam actually hugged him back with just as much exuberance.

“Yeah, you too.”

When the two boys pulled back, there was a matching grin on each of their faces that seemed to signal some sort of understanding. Turning back to the crowd around them, Zayn raised his hands in the air.

“We’re fucking champions!”

Everyone started cheering once more at that, and Zayn could even hear Liam next to him whooping along with all of them. He had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that this would change things, and not just in that he wouldn’t really mind sharing the spotlight with Liam.

For now, though, he decided just to enjoy it.

 

\--

 

October 4, The Ravenclaw Common Room

The day was finally over. For some reason, today had been especially long and Zayn was absolutely exhausted. All he wanted to do was make it to the common room without seeing anybody so that he could take a nap in his bed for a few hours. He was pretty sure that that wasn’t too much to ask for.

Until he actually got there.

After reciting the password to get into the Ravenclaw common room, Zayn entered only to find it empty save for one person. Liam – of course, who else? – was there, sitting at one of the tables with his textbook open and wand out. There was a teacup sitting in front of him, and it was doing absolutely nothing. Frowning, Zayn debated his options. He could make his way quietly through the room without Liam hearing him, or he could say a simple hello before continuing on his way. But of course, he chose neither of those options. Hating himself just the slightest, Zayn wandered over to where Liam was sitting and paused.

“Working on the project?” he asked, startling Liam out of his concentration. If he didn’t know any better, he would say he saw a hint of a smile on his face. It didn’t matter either way.

“Yup,” was all Liam said before he turned back to the book. Zayn frowned again.

“Making the legs grow is pretty hard, it took me ‘bout a week to get it,” he tried.

“Great.” But Liam didn’t sound like he felt any better about it – if anything he sounded _more_ exasperated. Which hadn’t been Zayn’s goal at all. So, of course, he had to sit down and pull the textbook so that it was sort of between them, no matter how confused and maybe even slightly annoyed Liam looked about it.

“See right here? It says you need to flick your wrist to the right, but they really mean like – hold on.” Zayn pulled out his wand and started to demonstrate. “Like this, see?”

Liam nodded, and Zayn motioned for him to take a try. Raising his wand once more, Liam flicked it in the air and recited the spell in the direction of the teacup. Within a second, the piece of glass was growing little tiny legs and beginning to run across the table. Before Zayn could reach for it, the cup was running straight into another book, toppling onto its side. He picked it up and held it in the air towards Liam, a frown on his face.

“Poor little guy’s got no eyes,” he said solemnly, and that did something he never thought he’d be able to do; it made Liam laugh. In that instant, Zayn knew that making Liam laugh was something was going to have to do again. And again. “Look up the spell to change it back, then.”

A small grin was still on Liam’s face as he turned back to the book, skimming the text for the correct information. After a moment he’d found it and was raising his wand once more. With another flick of his wand and a few words muttered from his mouth the little legs on the teacup were gone and Zayn placed it back down on the table.

“Cool. We’re gonna do great on that project,” Zayn told him with a small smile.

“Not very surprising,” Liam snorted back at him, leaning back in his chair. Zayn had to admit that he was right – they were both in Ravenclaw, and both pretty close to the top of their class. Nobody would really be shocked if they aced the project.

“Yeah, well. I’m still happy about it.” Shrugging, Zayn pushed back in his own chair and started to stand up. There was a small, lingering part of him that wanted to stay put and chat with Liam for a while, possibly try and get to know him, but. Liam would probably think he was crazy. And anyway, he’d been looking forward to that nap all damn day. “I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do, so, uh… See you later, Liam.”

“Yeah, okay. See you, Zayn.”

The two boys exchanged small smiles and waves before Zayn was pushing his chair back in and heading up to his room. When he shut the door behind him he let out a long sigh, dropping his book bag next to his bunk and letting himself fall into it face-first. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, was going on in his mind that had made himself want to actually sit around and talk to Liam Payne, but clearly things were changing. The two had become almost _friendly_ , which was a lot if you considered their previous stance on each other. And Liam honestly wasn’t as much of a douchebag as Zayn had originally thought – something that was completely throwing him for a loop. Because Liam actually seemed pretty nice, when they were working on the project together or passing each other in the hallway or working on a new play in practice. And that wasn’t something Zayn had ever actually considered before, the idea that he and Liam could get along. It wasn’t as if they were actually going to become friends, though, and he knew that. But maybe they didn’t have to be enemies.

_Whatever_ , Zayn thought, pulling his blankets over his head. _I’ve had attractive friends before. I can do it again._

 

\--

 

October 5, The Great Hall, **Liam**

Days when his Transfiguration class got let out early were some of Liam’s favorites, mostly because that meant less traffic on his way to lunch. The only bad thing about them was that when he got to lunch early, it meant having to save seats for his friends and pray that nobody would take them. Especially not people he didn’t really feel like socializing with.

Today when Liam arrived at the Great Hall, book bag slung over his shoulder, he noted that there were an abundance of seats at the Ravenclaw table, only a few stragglers already there and beginning to eat. Upon further observation, though, he realized that one of them was, in fact, Zayn. As he approached, Liam considered the options he had. He and Zayn had just started becoming nicer to each other, and he really didn’t want to ruin that. Mostly for the sake of the team, of course, but another very small part of him was sort of intrigued at the idea of he and Zayn being friends. It wasn’t a big deal, really, but Liam knew that if he didn’t acknowledge Zayn’s presence it could possibly ruin all of that. So, taking a deep breath, Liam strode over and slid onto the bench next to him.

“You’re here early,” he greeted casually, throwing a small smile in Zayn’s direction before starting to pour himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

“My free period’s before this,” Zayn replied, just as casually, and Liam couldn’t tell if the smile on his face was out of genuine happiness that Liam had sat with him, or pure confusion about it. Maybe a mixture of both. “What’s your excuse?”

“Chapple let us out early,” Liam shrugged, reaching for a basket of rolls that was almost all the way across the table.

“Ah, she does tend to do that,” Zayn agreed. “I’m honestly starting to think her glasses are just for show and she really can’t read the clock.” Liam really couldn’t help laughing at that.

“You know, I wouldn’t honestly be surprised. First day of classes she read my name as ‘Lyle Payne’ and she’s had me for five years now. Maybe she’s just going senile.”

Cue a laugh from Zayn that Liam was pretty sure was going to be ringing in his ears for the rest of the day. Who knew that making Zayn laugh was going to have such an effect on him? Maybe it was just a first-time thing; he’d have to try it out again later to find out. If he got the chance to, anyway.

“Careful, I heard that Nearly Headless Nick tells her everything the students say about her,” Zayn joked, a grin on his face. “He could be listening in right now.”

And of course Zayn just _had_ to laugh when Liam looked around to see if the ghost was anywhere near them. _Nope_ , Liam thought, _still thrilling_. That was going to become an issue, probably.

Before he had much time to dwell on it, though, Louis was sliding onto the bench across from them, a glum expression on his face as he planted his chin in his hands.

“I’m so _lonely_.”

“Hello to you, too,” Liam greeted in return, and he heard Zayn snort beside him, but he could tell the other boy was more focused on eating what was on his plate than talking to Louis. “Is everything alright?”

“No, Liam, if you were listening you would know that _I_ am _lonely_. Niall and Harry are having a fucking picnic by the Black Lake, and here you two are getting all friendly, and then there’s just _me_.” Louis always had a particular flair for the dramatics; one of the things Liam thought was most endearing about him.

“You realize you could be friendly with us, too? That’s the wonderful thing about socializing, there’s no limit on how many people can get involved.” Taking a bite of his food, Liam gave Louis a look.

“I don’t know what you’re into, Payno, but I’m not about the threesome life,” was what Louis replied, causing both Zayn and Liam to choke on their food.

“I’m sorry – _what_?” Zayn finally spoke up after taking a long sip of his water.

“We’re not – “

“Oh, that’s how you’re playing it, huh? Alright, whatever. Pass the pumpkin juice, please.” Louis brushed it off like it was nothing, arms reaching out towards Liam who did as he was told.

The three were silent for a few moments as they all ate their lunches, shoveling in heaps of almost everything that was set out before them. The House Elves always did such a good job at cooking that Liam felt as though he had to try everything offered to him. And it was about halfway through dessert that Louis decided to speak up once more.

“So, Zayn, now that you’re stealing my best friend from me, will you be dining with us more often?”

An incredulous look on his face, Zayn turned to face Liam. “Is he always like this?”

“I’m afraid so,” Liam nodded solemnly. There was a bit of protest from across the table, but Liam ignored it and reached for his book bag under the table. “Wanna head to Charms?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Liam and Zayn stood up from the bench and dusted themselves off, putting their bags back on their shoulders. Liam turned back to Louis and winked, waving at him before they headed out of the Great Hall. He was probably going to pay for this one later, but he didn’t much care right about now.

 

\--

 

November 25, The Great Hall

It sort of felt to Liam like the entirety of the month of November had come and gone in a flash. It was all a blur of homework, Quidditch, and spending whatever remaining time he had with his friends – all four of them. After that fateful lunch when Liam had sat down with Zayn, Louis had started making sure that he was included in most of – if not all – of their meals. Of course, Zayn had other friends that he liked to hang out with as well, but for some reason he also liked hanging out with Liam and his friends. Niall took to Zayn almost immediately, but that was no surprise to any of them. Niall got along with most anybody. And if Niall liked him, then somehow that meant that Harry did, too – so long as he wasn’t encroaching on his territory, of course. But Zayn wasn’t like that, never tried to get in the way of anybody’s friendships or relationships. He just sort of fit in with them, like the fifth piece of a puzzle that they didn’t know they’d been putting together. No matter why Zayn liked hanging out with them, Liam was happy about it.

Not only did it make their dynamic at Quidditch practice even better, Zayn was sort of nice to be around. They had a lot more in common that Liam would have thought (they were both into ‘comic books’ – a muggle invention that a boy named Joshua had introduced to everyone in their third year – and they had fairly similar music tastes) and something about hanging out with him was just sort of comfortable. If you’d have told Liam four months ago that he’d be best friends with Zayn Malik by the end of first term, he probably would’ve laughed in your face, but somehow that joke had become his reality and he saw no reason to fight it.

They had played in two more Quidditch matches and won both. Liam had let in his first goal near the end of the first match, but he was okay with it. They’d still won by a large margin by the time Zayn had caught the snitch. The second match was similar: Liam let in a goal near the beginning, and just after he’d let in a second Zayn had come through for them and appeared with the little golden ball in his hand. Liam was pretty sure they had a good shot at winning the championship during spring term, but he’d never vocalized it to anyone; he didn’t want to jinx their chances.

Now, as the winter holidays – and exams, of course, including Liam and Zayn’s Charms project – were approaching, Liam was starting to realize just exactly how much he was going to miss his friends for the few weeks they were going to be apart. They were all going home to visit their families for Christmas, except for Liam. He never went home; seeing his family during the school year was never something he wanted to do. He’d rather stay away from them for as long as he possibly could. Louis always offered for Liam to come home with him (“My parents _love_ you, Liam, you know that,” he’d always say), but Liam never took him up on it. He knew the pitying looks he’d get from all of Louis’ sisters and parents, and he just didn’t feel like dealing with any of it. He’d much rather stay here and eat the delicious food that the House Elves cooked up for Christmas dinner, and get to relax and do nothing for a while.

The Friday before exams, they were sitting at dinner when Louis came up with an excellent idea.

“Let’s get drunk tonight,” he declared, a chicken leg in one hand and his mouth half-full. Liam could practically feel Zayn wince next to him at the sight, but Liam had long grown used to Louis’ gross habits. “Out on the pitch. I’ve got a bottle of Firewhisky in my wardrobe and let’s be honest: we all need to relax a bit.”

“Yeah, alright. Why not?” Liam agreed, taking a sip of his water.

“Haz?” Niall asked, looking into Harry’s eyes with his own blue ones. Liam had realized over the course of the past few weeks that this was how Niall got Harry to do things – for some reason the guy couldn’t resist those eyes.

“I’m in,” Harry smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to Niall’s nose. Louis made a retching noise.

“Zayn? You in?” Louis asked, and everyone looked at the boy expectantly.

“I dunno… I’m a prefect, and…,” Zayn started, looking uneasy.

“If we get caught, you can say you’d just found us and were going to turn us in. Nobody’ll rat you out,” Louis formulated. “Sound good?”

It was a moment before Zayn sighed and nodded his agreement. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Liam could tell that Zayn was still pretty uneasy about the whole thing, but once they were out on the pitch he was sure his new friend would end up having fun.

“Eleven o’clock?” Liam offered, brow raised as he looked around at all of his friends. They all nodded in response.

“Excellent! I love getting drunk,” Louis clapped happily, and Liam rolled his eyes. “You guys need to stop doing that.”

Looking up, Liam saw that Louis was pointing at him and Zayn.

“Doing what?” they both asked in unison.

“That!”

 

\--

 

November 25, The Ravenclaw Common Room

Zayn didn’t appear in the common room until 10:48 by Liam’s watch. He’d been waiting there since 10:40, even though they’d agreed to meet at 10:45. Whatever. It wasn’t like he was being eager, or anything – just punctual. And he’d been a bit bored pretending to sleep in his bed while the rest of his roommates were actually dozing off.

“Ready?” Liam asked, standing up from the comfy armchair he’d been lounging in. Zayn still seemed a bit uneasy about sneaking out, but he nodded. “It’ll be fine, I promise. We’ve done this a million times and it’s always been fine.”

“Yeah, okay. It’ll be fine.”

With a comforting smile, Liam headed towards the common room door and pushed it open. He let Zayn exit first – mostly to make sure he was still following – and then headed out, shutting it behind him. Ever so quietly, the pair started to make their way throughout the castle until they’d successfully slipped through the doors and were out on the grounds. This was the easy part; nobody was ever lurking outside to catch them, and the chances of someone spotting them out the windows were so slim that they didn’t even count.

“Not too bad, right?” Liam asked as they walked through the grass, his head cocked in Zayn’s direction.

“Easier than I would’ve thought,” Zayn told him with a small shrug. It was a bit chilly out, as it was a fall night, and Zayn’s hands were shoved into his pockets for warmth. Liam had the slightest urge to reach out and wrap his arms around Zayn – only for warmth, of course – but he resisted, if only to prevent any sort of miscommunications.

A moment of silence later and they were entering the Quidditch pitch, only to find that Louis, Niall and Harry were all already there and appeared to be waiting for them before they opened the bottle that Louis had brought.

“Finally!” Louis exclaimed quite loudly, and Liam frowned. “You two are so _slow_. What’d you do, stop to make out?”

Liam and Zayn had eventually realized that Louis wasn’t going to stop with the couple jokes, and it was getting even easier to brush them off. They still made Liam blush a bit, but that was only because they were just so ridiculous. He and Zayn were just friends, that’s all. Someday Louis would get that through his head.

“We drinking, or what?” Zayn asked when they finally approached their friends. It was things like that that made Liam realized why he and Louis got along so well – they were both pretty blunt people. Probably why Liam liked them both, too.

With a grin, Louis opened the bottle and dropped the top somewhere in the grass; the chances that they wouldn’t all finish the bottle tonight were pretty slim, Liam knew. Raising it in the air, Louis cleared his throat. “To friendship. And passing our exams.”

“Here, here,” they all agreed, and Louis took the first gulp. Liam knew he was doing his best to hide his grossed-out face afterwards, but it was still there. He passed the bottle to Liam then, who did the same thing. The Firewhisky burned his throat and sat warmly in his stomach, but Liam didn’t mind. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hands, he passed it along to Zayn before sitting himself down in the grass.

“This is going to be one long week,” he declared, and Louis sat down next to him before nodding.

“Just gotta get through it,” Zayn agreed, passing the bottle off to Harry and joining them on the ground. “We’ll all be fine, probably.”

“If that probably was meant for me, Zaynie, I am sincerely offended,” Louis warned as the bottle finally made it’s way back to him. He took another drink as Zayn laughed, shaking his head and leaning back on his hands. From where Liam was sitting as he took his own drink from the bottle, the moonlit was hitting Zayn’s face in such a way that if Liam didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought that Zayn was carved out of the finest marble. But maybe that was just the alcohol talking. It probably was.

The five of them sat like that for a while, passing around the bottle until it was empty and talking about nothing in particular. It was the first time they’d all hung out together outside of school, but if Liam was being honest with himself it sort of felt completely right. And that definitely was not just the alcohol talking. There was something about having all four of these boys with him that made him feel like maybe, Hogwarts was more than just a home for him. It was a family, too. And these boys were his brothers. And really, he didn’t need anything more than this, right here.

“Liam, c’mon, it’s fucking one o’clock,” Zayn snapped him out of his thoughts, shaking his arm and pulling him up to a standing position. “We’ve gotta get back inside.”

“Inside. Right,” Liam nodded, blinking once. It was either him, or the entire Quidditch pitch was rotating on a horizontal axis. With magic, he was never sure. “Let’s go.”

“Shit, you’re pissed, mate,” Zayn muttered, shaking his head.

“Think you can make it all the way in with him?” Louis asked, eyes wide, and it wasn’t until then that Liam had even realized he was still there.

“Yeah, s’alright. I can do it.”

With a nod, Louis took off towards the castle. Liam could see Harry and Niall holding hands off in the distance, exchanging little kisses every few steps. He wanted to puke.

“C’mon, Liam, can you hold onto my arm?” Zayn was saying, and Liam snapped back to attention. Zayn was offering him his right arm, and Liam clung to it. “Alright, babe, c’mon.”

“M’kay,” Liam agreed, doing his best to walk alongside Zayn. He was a bit wobbly, but he’d definitely been worse in the past. He was sure he could make it inside.

It took about a half an hour – three times what it should’ve – but eventually Zayn was whispering the password to their common room and pulling Liam inside of it.

“Think you can make it to bed without me?” he asked, brown eyes wide. Liam wondered what it would be like to swim in Zayn’s eyes, but he didn’t tell him that. Instead, he just nodded.

“I’ll be alright.” Zayn still walked him to the door to his room. When they got there Liam turned to him and smiled.

“I’m so glad we’re friends, Zaynie.”

“Yeah, me too, Li,” Zayn smiled back. Then, he was reaching for the doorknob. “Get some sleep, I’ll check on you in the morning, okay?”

With a nod, Liam stepped into his room.

“Night, Zayn.”

“Night, babe.”

Once Liam hit the bed, it was lights out.

 

\--

 

November 26, Ravenclaw Dormitories

Around seven thirty in the morning, Liam recalled waking up, if only for a moment. Maybe he was still drunk, or maybe it was just the morning haze, but he was pretty sure he was shaken awake by an angel with pretty brown eyes and soft-looking, dark hair that he wanted to run his fingers through. The angel gave him a glass of water that he downed in less than thirty seconds, and then tucked him right back into bed.

“Go back to sleep, babe,” the angel murmured. “I’ll leave you some breakfast on your night table.”

“Thank you,” was all he could manage before dreamland pulled him back in once more.

 

\--

 

Christmas Day, Ravenclaw Common Room

Liam woke up on Christmas morning about as happy as he always did. He was glad that there were no disappointed parents to try and impress, but at the same time it was a bit lonely. None of the boys in his dorm had stayed at the castle this year, and even though his bunkmate Andrew had hung him a little stocking off the bedpost, the room felt pretty empty and not at all festive. At the foot of his bed there were a few small wrapped gifts – one from Louis, one from Louis’ mum, one from Niall, and one from his family, as usual. This year, though, there was a new addition to the pile, and Liam frowned. He reached over and read the label, only to realize that it was from Zayn. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he opened the top drawer of his night table and pulled out a small parcel that he hadn’t been sure he should send. It was a Batman figure that he’d sent for a few weeks back, one that he was sure Zayn didn’t have yet, and he wasn’t sure if it’d be too weird to send. Now, he scribbled down a ‘ _Happy Christmas!_ ’ note before attaching it to his owl, Stark’s foot. Then, he reached for the package once more.

Upon opening it, Liam found first a small note that read nothing more than, ‘ _Liam, Hope you’re having a good holiday. Happy Christmas! Your friend, Zayn_ ’ but it still made him smile. Then, he took a look at the gift. It was the next copy of The Walking Dead that he was missing from his collection, and that made Liam smile even harder. He liked that Zayn knew that about him.

Liam went through the rest of his gifts, opening the yearly Christmas sweater from Mrs. Tomlinson, the Sugar Quills Louis had gotten him, and the bottle of Firewhisky from Niall (with a note that told him that Harry had pitched in as well). His mum sent him the same thing as every year (a pack of socks) and Liam didn’t even bother to read the card. Those were always the same as well. He was pretty satisfied with his load, though, and laid back in his bed to rest for a while longer. He didn’t have anywhere to be until dinner, so he had time to waste.

Thinking back on the entirety of first semester, Liam was happy to see how far things had come. He’d made two, great new friends, Niall was as happy as a clam with the guy he’d been pining after for five years, and he was pretty sure he’d aced all of his exams. His and Zayn’s Charms project had gone off without a glitch, each of them successfully summoning their parts of the tea set, and each making their teacup walk straight across Professor Quinn’s desk. Zayn had even managed to make his do a little dance at the end, though Liam had no idea how, and that had earned them extra credit.

Things were going just swimmingly.

It was only two or so hours later when Stark was rapping at the window of the Ravenclaw common room, a new note attached to his talon. Liam let him in and stroked his feathers gently as he removed the note before he let him fly off. The note was from Zayn, and it read: _This is wicked! Thanks so much! Hope you like the comic. Zayn._

It was stupid, but just the sight of his handwriting made Liam smile. Go figure.

 

\--

 

Christmas Day, The Great Hall

By the time dinner came around, Liam was starving. He’d stopped in for a bit of lunch, but he’d spent most of the day reading The Walking Dead and lounging around in the warmth of the common room fire. He really wanted to get outside and fly around on his broom for a bit, but it was far too cold and snowy for that. He’d have to wait for the warmth of spring to come around and start to melt it before he’d be able to get back out there again. Quidditch wasn’t set to start back up again until the end of February.

There was only ever one table set up for Christmas dinner, as there weren’t nearly enough people around to fill all four house tables and the teacher’s table. Headmaster Elwood sat in the middle, the teachers around him and the students filling in all of the other spots. When Liam arrived, he saw a few other Ravenclaws clumped in one spot at the table and he decided that was his best bet. He slid onto the bench at an empty spot and smiled at all of them.

“Hi guys. Happy Christmas,” he greeted, and they all smiled back, wishing him the same. Minding his own business, Liam went about fixing himself a heaping plate of food.

“So, Liam.”

Looking up, Liam saw that the source of the voice was a boy in his year – Christian, he was pretty sure was his name – that he was pretty sure was friends with Zayn. And might’ve used to be on the Quidditch team, Liam wasn’t entirely positive.

“Yeah, mate?” Liam replied, trying to seem friendly enough. He really didn’t feel like trying to force conversation with this guy, but he wasn’t going to be rude on Christmas.

“You and Zayn have been hanging out a lot, huh?” Christian asked, a smirk on his face that Liam couldn’t quite read.

“Uh, I mean, yeah, I guess. We were partners for Charms, and we’re both on Quidditch and he’s friends with my friends, so I’ve seen a bit of him lately.” Liam paused. He could only hope he wasn’t blushing. “Why do you ask?”

“Seems to be a bit more than that, no? You guys seem _close_.” Christian put a strange emphasis on the word, one that Liam wasn’t really sure he liked, if he was being honest. “No reason. We used to be pretty, uh, close, too. If you know what I mean.”

Liam frowned down at his mashed potatoes before he looked up once more at the boy speaking at him. “No, I don’t think I know what you mean.”

“Let’s just say we got to know each other…on a _lot_ of levels last year.” The boys around them snickered, and Liam suddenly felt like he needed to leave. Or like he was going to throw up. Maybe both.

“Good for you, mate,” was all he said, turning back to his meal. Whatever Zayn did with his time last year was really none of Liam’s business. And plus, he didn’t care. His and Zayn’s relationship was nothing like that.

It was pretty clear that Christian wanted to say more on the subject, but Liam decidedly ignored him. This wasn’t a discussion he wanted to have – especially on Christmas. And without Zayn around to tell his side of the story. Not that he needed to explain anything to Liam; Liam really had no say in what Zayn did with his life. But for some reason he couldn’t help but feel like Christian wasn’t someone he should trust, and he definitely wasn’t someone Liam liked. He decided to try and steer clear of the guy as much as possible from now on.

So much for a happy Christmas.

 

\--

 

January 16, The Ravenclaw Common Room, **Zayn**

The first time he saw Liam when he got back was the moment he entered the common room. There he was, sitting in front of the fire with Niall to his right on the couch. They both looked up when they heard someone come in, and Zayn offered them a warm smile as a hello. Niall smiled his typical happy-to-see-you smile, but Liam flat out _grinned_.

Zayn wanted to melt.

“Lads,” he greeted, walking over to where they were and dropping his bag on the ground. They both stood up and Niall practically tackled him in a hug. Zayn admired that about the blonde boy: his ability to show affection for anyone he liked without any shame or hesitance. Zayn hugged him back, patting his back until he finally let go. Then there was Liam.

It wasn’t as though they’d never hugged before, but it’d been so long since he’d seen him, and, well. Zayn was just happy to see him again. And maybe he hugged Liam for a millisecond too long, but Liam was just so _warm_ and smelled so _good_ that he really couldn’t help it. He felt an instant loss when they pulled away, but did nothing about it.

“Harry and Louis still not back yet?” he asked, and the other two shook their heads, no. “Right, I’m just going to put my bag away and then I wanna hear about both your breaks, yeah?”

“You got it, sir,” Liam grinned, and Zayn couldn’t help but grin right back. Shaking his head, he picked up his bag once more and headed for his bedroom.

He had a funny feeling that this was going to be a very interesting term.

 

\--

 

February 1, The Library, **Liam**

This semester, it turned out, meant a lot of time spent in the library when Liam would much rather be out on the pitch or messing about with his friends. But OWLs were serious business, he knew, and that meant a lot of studying. If he was every going to start slacking off, it wasn’t going to be now. Lucky for him, though, Zayn was taking things just as seriously. That meant he at least had some company when he spent his afternoons holed up reading about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions and everything else he needed to prepare for.

But today, he couldn’t focus.

There was something plaguing his mind that he just couldn’t shake, a question he wanted to ask that he just couldn’t bring to his lips. Maybe it was because he was nervous or maybe it was because he knew it could end up being a terrible idea, but either way he just hadn’t gotten the courage to ask it quite yet. He had reread the same paragraph in his _Potions of the Middle East_ book when he finally got fed up and placed it back down on the table.

“So,” was all he said, causing Zayn to glance up from the transfiguration book he was currently browsing and raise his brow.

“Huh?”

“First Hogsmeade trip is in two weeks,” Liam went on, fiddling with his fingers on top of the book he’d just dropped.

“Oh, yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Zayn was clearly pretty distracted, but Liam didn’t have the patience anymore. He went on.

“Niall and Harry are going together, I think, like on a date.”

“S’good for them. They rarely get alone time, yeah?”

“Yeah, exactly. Louis usually ends up spending the whole time in Zonko’s or Weasley’s.”

“Typical.”

“I know. But that just leaves you and me.” That, apparently, had caught Zayn’s attention, because he finally lowered his book to the table so that he could see Liam clearly.

“I guess it does, yeah. We could, like, see if anyone from the team wants to go?” Zayn suggested, though Liam noted a bit of hesitance in his voice.

“Sure, yeah, we could do that.” He paused, willing all of his confidence to come forthright at that moment. “Or.”

“Or?” It was safe to say that Zayn looked as confused as he sounded. This was probably a stupid idea.

“We could, like, go together. Or something.” Liam did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible; the last thing he wanted was for Zayn to sense his lack of confidence.

“You want to?” Zayn asked after a moment that felt like a year. Liam couldn’t quite read the look on his face – it could have been confusion, or shock, or pure excitement. Maybe a combination.

“I mean, yeah, if you do.” Liam shrugged. He was definitely blushing now, but there was nothing he could really do about that. He might as well ride it out.

“Yeah, that’d be – I want to, too.”

When they met eyes then, they were both smiling – genuine smiles. Liam liked it when Zayn smiled like that, with his eyes crinkled up in the sides and his tongue poking out from between his teeth. It was like he was getting to witness something so rare and beautiful, it was one of the greatest honors he’d ever had.

“Awesome,” Liam breathed, barely able to grip the sides of his book, let alone speak. Zayn just grinned back at him for a moment before picking up his book once more. Liam figured he ought to do the same, and as he did, he felt Zayn’s foot hook with his own under the table. And that – well, that made him smile even harder, and he was more than sure that a blush was forming on his cheeks. But whatever, Zayn had just agreed to go on a date with him. Liam was having a hard time caring about anything else.

And as he sat there reading up on Middle Eastern potions, Liam couldn’t help but think that that had been the best decision he’d made all month.

 

\-- February 12, Hogwarts Grounds

 

It was the second time this year that something involving Zayn was making Liam nervous, and he wasn’t sure if that made him like Zayn more or hate him just a little. He’d never been a really nervous person, but for some reason Zayn just had this effect on him and Liam wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

Right now, though, he was focused more on how he was supposed to act when Zayn got there.

Liam and Louis were standing outside the main doors of the castle, and Liam was pacing. Louis had been yelling at him all morning about how he needed to calm down, but for some reason Liam just couldn’t. He’d gone through about fifteen different outfits until he landed on the one he’d tried on first, with Louis telling him that he looked like a young David Beckham – whoever that was. Louis followed more muggle celebrities than he did. But it didn’t really matter, because he still had no idea what he was supposed to do when Zayn walked out of the building. Should Liam go in for a hug? Kiss him on the cheek? Offer his arm? Or just be casual? He’d taken a chance and asked Louis earlier who had sarcastically told him to get on one knee and kiss Zayn’s hand, which really wasn’t funny. None of this was funny.

“Liam, I’m going to ask you one more time to stand still. The back and forth is making me nauseous,” his friend grumbled at him, but Liam just gave him the finger. If Louis had any idea of the emotional toil Liam was facing right now, he’d shut up. “If anyone should be freaking out it should be _me_. All of my friends are pairing off, and I’m being left all alone! I am a perpetual third wheel!”

Liam was about to retort when a different voice came, and he froze in his tracks.

“You’re not a third wheel, Louis, you’re a _fifth_ wheel,” Zayn was saying, a sarcastic smile on his face. Louis huffed, no surprise, and Liam couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m out of here.” Without any protest from the other two, Louis was heading off in the direction of Hogsmeade. And Liam and Zayn were left completely alone.

“Hi,” Liam hated himself almost the instant the word left his mouth.

“Hey,” Zayn replied with a puff of laughter. He took a step closer to where Liam was standing and cocked his head in the direction of where everyone was already heading. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Liam smiled, and the pair started walking. Zayn had his hands in his pockets, so Liam didn’t have to worry much about what to do; it seemed as though Zayn had already made the decision for him. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, mostly. I woke up at ‘round two AM, ‘cause that kid Ben fell out of his bunk _again_. I swear, after five years you think he’d stop,” Zayn told him, shaking his head in disbelief.

“That’s really unfortunate,” he agreed, giggling. “I don’t think anyone in my dorm’s ever fallen out of the bunks, but in our third year my bunk mate – Andrew – snored so badly I personally walked him to the infirmary one night.”

“Jesus,” it was Zayn’s turn to laugh. “That bad, huh?”

“You’ve no idea. It sounded like he was choking on his tongue,” Liam explained, and he couldn’t help but wince just remembering it. “I feel like I’m having war flashbacks.”

Zayn laughed even harder at that, bumping shoulders with Liam, who blushed immediately. It was dumb that even the slightest contact from Zayn made him insanely conscious of himself, but he couldn’t help it. It’d been like that ever since Zayn had agreed to come with him today; they would be sitting next to each other on the couch, thighs pressed together and shoulders touching, and Liam wouldn’t be able to think about anything else. Granted, they had become a bit touchier since the day he’d asked Zayn, but still. He didn’t want to be afraid of contact with Zayn forever.

“Where d’you wanna go first, then?” Zayn asked him, looking over at him with those pretty brown eyes of his. Liam’s bottom lip jutted out in thought and he shrugged.

“Dunno, wherever. We could go to Honeydukes,” he suggested. Truthfully, he’d already eaten all of the Sugar Quills Louis had gotten him for Christmas and he wanted to stock up. And maybe buy something for Zayn, too, but whatever.

“Sounds good to me. I should send my sister some Chocolate Frogs.”

“You’ve got a sister?” Really, Liam knew so little about Zayn. But he wanted to know it all.

“Three,” Zayn nodded. “Two younger, one older. What about you?”

“I’ve got two older,” Liam told him. “Looks like that’s something we’ve got in common.”

“What is?”

“Both only sons.” Liam smiled, and Zayn smiled right back.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The pair made their way to the sweet shop and looked around for a bit. After an offhanded comment from Zayn about how Jelly Slugs were his favorite, Liam slipped some into his hand and bought them with his Sugar Quills. Zayn got his sister some Chocolate Frogs and some Pumpkin Pasties for his mum. Liam felt a little misplaced not buying anything for his family, but he knew they wouldn’t care, nor would they expect it. Even if he did send them anything, they probably wouldn’t ever acknowledge it. He decided just to not mention it as they headed outside of the shop and to the Owlery so that Zayn could mail his packages. Zayn’s owl, Liam found out, was a black owl named Captain. Liam loved it. When they left, Zayn reached for Liam’s hand as if that was completely normal, and Liam let him. The smile on his face depicted exactly how his heart was feeling right then with Zayn’s fingers linked with his own. This morning he’d been so worried, and for what? Things were going just swimmingly. Zayn tugged him in the direction of a nearby bench and Liam followed, placing his package down next to him as he sat down.

“So, can I ask you something?” Zayn started, and Liam cocked his head in his direction.

“Of course.” He had a funny feeling he’d tell Zayn anything he asked.

“Why’d you stay at the castle for Christmas?”

Honestly, Liam should’ve been expecting that one; though Louis and Niall knew about his family troubles, Liam hadn’t bothered to explain them to either Zayn or Harry. He didn’t particularly like talking about any of it, but if Zayn wanted to know, he might as well share.

“Oh, yeah, right,” he fumbled for words, using the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Zayn’s to scrub over his face. “It’s like – it’s sort of complicated? My dad and I don’t really get on very well, ‘cause like… My entire family was in Slytherin. And then I come along and get sorted into Ravenclaw, and I just fucked it all up. And he’s never really forgiven me for breaking the family line.”

Liam felt Zayn let go of his hand, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe, but then he felt the warmth of Zayn’s palm on the back of his neck, and everything was okay again. It was the smallest of gestures, but also the most comforting. So he went on.

“He hasn’t spoken to me much since then, actually, and my mum – I mean, she’s not mean to me or anything. But you can tell she’s not quite sure what to say around me, you know? My sister’s are fine, even if they are a bit embarrassed. But basically, I’d rather be here. Hogwarts is more of a home to me than be with them, and I just like to keep the family stuff to a minimum when possible.” He shrugged, signaling that he was just about finished talking about it. Zayn’s thumb was rubbing soothingly at the back of his neck and Liam finally turned to look at him to see a frown on his face.

“Well that’s shit,” Zayn said finally, and it was so blunt and honest that Liam let out a puff of laughter that Zayn couldn’t help but reciprocating. “What! I mean, it is! They shouldn’t look down on you just because you’re different. I mean, being in Ravenclaw means you’re intelligent, you know? And not just smart, like. Really fucking smart. And that’s really cool, too. I think you should be proud of it. And they should be proud of _you_.”

“Thanks,” Liam replied quietly, a small smile on his face as he studied Zayn. His friends had always been comforting about the situation, but nobody had ever truly argued for his side the way Zayn had just done. It was refreshing. “That really means a lot.”

“Of course,” Zayn nodded, smiling right back at him. “It’s just the truth.”

“Either way,” Liam was smiling a bit more now. “We’ve got to win against Slytherin tomorrow, yeah? At least I’ll have that to rub in my dad’s face.”

“You got it, Li. We’ll kill them. Just to show your dad that you’re better than them, alright?”

There was a ninety-nine percent chance that Liam was going to explode with sheer happiness, and honestly a lot of feelings for the boy sitting next to him. He never knew that one person could make him feel so comforted and so fond and so many things all at once the way Zayn was doing right now until it had actually happened. Honestly, he didn’t quite know what to think about it, and all he really knew was that he wanted things to keep going this way. He wanted to make sure they did.

He wanted to kiss Zayn.

And maybe he was kind of, sort of leaning in to do just that, when Zayn said, “ Liam – ,“ but Liam never found out what Zayn was going to say, because all of a sudden there was somebody else there, too.

“Lads,” Christian greeted, breaking both Liam and Zayn out of whatever bubble they’d been in and drawing their attentions to him, standing in front of their bench with his arms crossed over his chest and a stupid smirk on his face. Liam hated him.

“Christian,” Zayn replied, but Liam heard no warmth in his voice like he normally did, like when he said Liam’s name. “Can we do something for you?”

“Yeah, actually. I want back on the team.”

Liam said nothing.

“You quit,” was all Zayn said.

“Yeah, and? I want back on. I regret quitting and I’m sorry about it, and I wanna play.” He sounded so arrogant that Liam wanted to hit him. But he stayed still and silent.

“I’m afraid I can’t really help you there, mate, Liam’s our Keeper now and I see no reason to replace him,” Zayn told him, and Liam couldn’t help but feeling a little smug. He also noticed how Zayn hadn’t moved his hand from where it rested on his neck, almost on the small of his back.

“You can try out again next year if you like, but the team’s set for this year. Sorry.”

“Zayn, babe, c’mon, you know that – “

“Know that _what_?” Zayn interrupted him, and Liam was sure he’d never heard so much ferocity in Zayn’s voice before.

“Come get a drink with me, yeah? We can talk it over.” Apparently Christian just wasn’t going to give this up. But that was when Zayn did something that surprised Liam.

“Fine. Fine, whatever,” Zayn sighed as if he was exhausted, turning to Liam with wide eyes. “I’ll find you in a bit, okay?”

“Okay,” was all Liam could reply, sure his voice was giving away how incredibly hurt he felt and not caring enough to try and hide it. Zayn looked like he wanted to say – or do – something more, but instead, all he did was offer Liam a small smile before he stood up and started to walk away. Christian caught Liam’s eye before following, and just from the stupid smug grin on his face, Liam wanted to tackle the guy. But he didn’t. He just sat where he was, completely floored at whatever had just happened.

Things had been going so well.

He didn’t move for a long while, watching Zayn and Christian walk off towards wherever and sitting there for a bit afterwards. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to wait for Zayn to come back or not. He really thought they’d been having a moment, he’d thought maybe something else was going to _happen_ , but maybe he was just being silly. Maybe what Zayn had been going to say was, “Liam, I don’t like you like that,” or, “Liam, I don’t want to kiss you.” It was entirely probable. Zayn had never liked him up until this year, why would he start now? He’d probably just been taking pity on him all this time. Liam decided it was probably time to go home.

Without bothering to check in with any of his friends, Liam started back to the castle. Not many people were making the trek back yet as it was still fairly early in the afternoon, but he didn’t really care. He’d honestly rather be alone for the walk without anybody pestering about how his trip had been or why he looked so glum. He definitely wasn’t going to be talking about this with anybody. And it wasn’t until about halfway home that he finally saw the first person standing around; it was a seventh year in Ravenclaw that he knew only by name – Greg.

“Liam, mate, heading back already?” Greg asked him, smiling all friendly like there was absolutely nothing to worry about. He had a nice smile, Liam thought.

“Yeah, it’s about time I head in, I think,” Liam told him, smiling back with much less fervor. “What about you?”

“I was supposed to meet someone here, but they never showed up,” Greg shrugged, walking over to fall in step with Liam. “Guess I better head in, too.”

“Sorry ‘bout that, mate.”

“Nah, it’s cool,” and Liam really believed that Greg didn’t much mind. “Maybe we could chill?”

“Yeah, that’d be cool,” Liam replied with a shrug, not thinking much of it. Frankly, he’d rather be alone, but maybe it’d be cool to be friends with a seventh year. Whatever. Anything would be better than thinking about Zayn right now – even though, really, he always was. Maybe he just needed a distraction.

 

\--

 

February 12, The Three Broomsticks, **Zayn**

Zayn and Christian had ended up taking a table at the Three Broomsticks, and Christian had ordered them a pair of butterbeers from the waitress who’d winked at Zayn when she brought them. Zayn hadn’t bothered to touch his – he didn’t want anybody getting the wrong idea. The literal last place he wanted to be right now was probably here, rather than finishing up his sort-of-date with Liam. It had been going so well, too, until this asshole had come around and interrupted them. Zayn knew, though, that if he didn’t humor Christian at least this much they probably would’ve gotten in a fight, and some things would probably have been said that he really didn’t need Liam to hear. He didn’t know what Liam knew about them, but he didn’t feel like finding out on their first date. Zayn promised himself the second after he’d stood up from that bench that as soon as he got back to the castle he was going to find Liam, and finish what they had been about to do – or at least he was pretty sure they were about to do – and kiss him. And then explain what his intentions had been with leaving to talk to Christian. He wanted to be clear on everything. For right now, though, he had to deal with this problem.

“You wanna tell me why we’re here?” he asked dryly, hands clasped in front of him on the table. Christian was sat leaning back in his chair, one hand on his mug and the other in his lap. He looked all too comfortable, like he was really enjoying ruining Zayn’s day.

“I want back on the team, I told you,” he said simply with a small shrug. “And…”

“And?” Zayn’s brow quirked, he hadn’t realized there was more.

“And I want you back.”

Zayn was sure that if he’d been drinking what Christian had ordered for him, he’d have spit it out in his face.

“You _what_? Christian, we were never even together,” Zayn spluttered with the most confused look on his face he was sure he’d ever made. “And you can’t just be back on the team. You quit, and we got a new Keeper – a _better_ Keeper, honestly, and I’m not kicking him off. Try out again next year, like I said.”

Across the table, Christian was turning so red that Zayn thought he might explode. Or hit him, even. He wasn’t sure which.

“You’re only keeping him on the team because you _like_ him,” Christian accused. “You used to like _me_.”

“Let me get one thing straight,” Zayn said coolly. “I never liked you. You were just a fling to me. And stay out of my fucking business.”

Christian started to argue, but Zayn didn’t listen. He stood up and stormed out of the pub with a dozen pairs of eyes on him that he didn’t even acknowledge, he was that mad. Christian was wrong. Liam wasn’t on the team because Zayn liked him; when he’d put Liam on the team he’d _hated_ him. Since then, of course, things had changed quite drastically, but that didn’t take away from the fact that Liam was a good Keeper. He wasn’t about to punish him because Christian had some stupid change of heart. And it wasn’t as if Zayn had ever felt anything for Christian; all along it’d been just sex. With Liam, things were much different. They hadn’t done more than hold hands but already Zayn felt charged with some sort of electricity that he’d never felt before, some ridiculous drawing towards Liam that he couldn’t escape. He wanted to do stupid things like tickle Liam just to see him laugh, congratulate him on good grades, hold him when he was sad, and so many others that he couldn’t even list right then. Christian had never made him feel any of that.

After wandering aimlessly and half looking for Liam for about fifteen minutes, Zayn finally ran into someone he actually wanted to see: Louis.

“Mate, where’s Liam?” Louis looked just as confused as Zayn had been when he’d sat down in the pub a little while ago.

“I got pulled away for a bit and now I can’t find him,” Zayn admitted, feeling slightly guilty. He probably shouldn’t had left Liam.

“Right, okay. Probably went back to the castle, then,” Louis mused, his brows still furrowed in thought. “You wanna start walking back?”

“Yeah, alright,” Zayn sighed, falling in step with his friend. “I’m worried he’s mad at me.”

“Did you do something that would upset him?” Louis asked. It wasn’t accusatory, more of a question to try and figure out how to comfort Zayn. As obnoxious as Louis could be, Zayn could tell why he was Liam’s best friend. He was a good guy.

“Sort of?”

“Ah, well. Just explain yourself. Apologize, and whatever. I’m sure you’ll work it out. He really likes you, you know?”

“Really?”

“Yup.” There was nothing about Louis’ demeanor that led Zayn to believe he was lying.

“I really like him, too,” Zayn said finally.

“I know. You’ll work it out.”

“Hope so.”

 

\--

 

February 13, Hogwarts Corridor

Rounds were probably Zayn’s least favorite things about being a Prefect. Nine times out of ten he walked around the castle corridors nearest the Ravenclaw common room around one in the morning and found absolutely nothing going on. Once in a while there was the first year who thought it would be cool to stay out past hours, but most people weren’t dumb enough to waste the precious time they were actually able to sleep.

And Zayn seriously valued his sleep.

So walking around for an hour at one in the morning didn’t sound like a good idea to him regardless of how many people he caught. He was always grumpy and tired when he did his rounds, and half the time he was fairly certain that he was still asleep because he hardly even remembered doing them when he woke up in the morning. But whatever. It was part of the job, and honestly, it was a good job to have. The bathroom alone was almost enough incentive.

Tonight, though, when he was about halfway through with his designated route, Zayn heard a crash from a nearby broom closet. Shortly afterwards there were _definitely_ the sound of giggles, and Zayn sighed. Tonight was going to be one of those nights where he had to turn in some pathetic student that would probably beg him the entire way to Professor Quinn’s office just to let them go. Great.

Walking over to the door, he reached out and opened the door to reveal two boys, attached at the lips. And one of them was Liam.

“Shit – oh! Hey, Zayn.” Liam was bright red and way, way too casual about this. Zayn wanted to cry. “Are you – you won’t turn us in, right? We’ll just head back to the common room and – “

“Come with me,” was all Zayn said, and it came out like a monotone. He couldn’t stop staring at how pink Liam’s lips were and how the other boy – a seventh year Zayn recognized from their house – was still holding tight onto his hips, and how both of their shirts were already unbuttoned. He had to physically force himself to turn around and start walking towards Professor Quinn’s office.

“Wait!” Liam called, and he could hear two pairs of footsteps behind him, but he didn’t turn around. “Zayn, c’mon – “

All of a sudden there was a hand on his shoulder, and Zayn was whipping around to look at Liam, glaring hard to hide how hurt he really felt.

“ _What_? “

“I just thought you’d maybe help me out.” Liam took a step back, hands held up in defense. The other guy was just catching up to them and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to bolt in the other direction.

“It’s not my job to help you out, Payne, you’ve broken the rules and it’s my job to turn you in. We’re going to Professor Quinn’s office. _Now_.”

With that, Zayn turned back in the direction he’d been going and stormed off once more. Fuck Liam, honestly. To think that he was a good guy had been Zayn’s biggest mistake; anyone who came from a fucking line of Slytherins could be nothing than a conniving snake of an asshole, and this only proved it. After tonight, he was never going to speak to the guy again – and that was a promise.

 

\--

 

February 13, The Quidditch Pitch, **Liam**

Zayn had scheduled a practice the morning of the Slytherin game to make sure they weren’t rusty from the break, and Liam was entirely grateful. He knew that playing would relax him a bit after everything that had happened yesterday, and getting to see Zayn again might make him feel a bit better. He knew they needed to talk about what had happened, since they hadn’t had a chance to last night. For a second Liam had thought that maybe Zayn catching him was a good thing; like maybe it’d just make it easier for Zayn to let him down, easier for him to go back to Christian. But Zayn had been so mad Liam didn’t even know what to do about it at the time. If he could just talk to him, he knew they could work it out and go back to being friends. Probably.

Promptly at eleven in the morning, Liam emerged onto the Quidditch pitch to find a bunch of the team already there, waiting. Zayn was there, and he gave Liam a look that he had no idea how to decipher. Liam decided to swallow his pride and try to be nice, or something.

“Hi,” he greeted with a small smile.

“What are you doing here?” was what he got back.

“Um – practice? I mean, for the game this afternoon…,” now Liam was the confused one.

“Actually, Christian’s going to play in the match against Slytherin.”

It felt like Zayn had reached over and physically slapped him across the face, that was how hurt Liam was. He was sure that the look on his face portrayed nothing less; he could feel his mouth slightly agape and his brow furrowed, even if he wasn’t consciously moving them. He _had_ to play in this match; beating the Slytherins was the only way to prove to his father – not to mention himself – that he wasn’t a complete and utter failure. Zayn knew that. Zayn _understood_ that.

Or at least that’s what Liam had thought.

“You’re kidding, right? Zayn, that’s got to be a joke. I’m – I’m a thousand times faster than him, and I – ,” although it wasn’t normally like Liam to grovel he felt all of his shame slipping away. This was important. He had to play.

“This is no joke. You gave up your right to play when you got caught sneaking around after hours. Not my problem.” With his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes as cold as ice, Liam could tell Zayn was being serious.

And then he was angry.

“You know what?” he started, feeling all of the blood bubbling up to his face. He knew he must look like he was going to explode, implode or both, but he couldn’t care much. “Just because you’re fucking jealous that I’m getting some with a hot seventh year doesn’t mean you have to lose the fucking game for us. Fuck you, Zayn.”

Hands clenched at his sides, Liam swiveled around on his heel and stormed towards the changing rooms, leaving a field full of awe-struck teammates to watch him go.

 

\--

 

February 13, Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin Quidditch Match, **Zayn**

Liam never showed up to watch.

Zayn looked around the entire stadium before the game started, and he couldn’t find him. Not that he’d really expected Liam to show, but… A part of him had hoped. He wasn’t sure way (he was still so, so mad, and so, so sad) but he wanted Liam to be there. He still wanted to beat Slytherin for Liam, even if he wasn’t playing. Just to show him that being a Slytherin wasn’t everything, or something like that. Maybe to show him that Zayn was better than that. Or maybe, maybe it was to hurt Liam right back the way that Liam had done to him.

So he did it. He won.

 

\--

 

February 20, The Great Hall, **Liam**

It had been a week since he’d spoken to Zayn, and over a week since Zayn had eaten a meal with their group of friends. Liam had detention every night for the next two weeks, so he hardly had any time to see anyone, but he still noticed. Ever since the incident, Zayn had gone back to eating meals with his old friends, and Liam wasn’t surprised. He was just sort of glad that Christian wasn’t one of those friends. But whatever. It didn’t really matter, because Zayn wasn’t their friend anymore. He could do whatever he wanted. Harry, Niall and Louis were pretty upset about it, though. They’d called him over that first Monday after everything had happened, but Zayn had just waved and went back to what he was doing. They’d immediately asked Liam what he’d done, and Liam had just shrugged and gone back to eating his sweet potatoes. He wasn’t quite ready to talk about it then.

He did tell Louis about it the next night, though, when the bugger had laid out on top of all of Liam’s homework and refused to move until he’d explained what was going on. Of course, Louis had told him he was a right idiot for doing what he’d done, but how was Liam supposed to know that Zayn was going to find them? How was he even supposed to know that he’d care? The way Zayn had walked off with Christian that day had made it seem pretty damn clear to Liam that Zayn wasn’t into dating him, or anything like that. In the end, Louis had agreed that they’d both fucked up a bit, but he wouldn’t stop insisting that Liam try to talk to Zayn. Yeah, right. That was never going to happen.

“Doing alright, Li?” Harry asked him today at lunch when Liam had been zoning out, staring at his plate and thinking about how things could have been if the past weekend had never occurred. Or at least gone the way it was supposed to.

“Yeah, Haz, I’m fine,” Liam tried to smile at him, but the attempt was weak and he knew it. Harry smiled back at him and Liam could see the pity in his eyes, but he didn’t want it. Pushing his plate away, he stood up. “I’m gonna head to class, I’ll see you guys later.”

It wasn’t just that he didn’t want the pity – he didn’t deserve it and he knew it. He’d rather hate himself in private, anyway.

 

\--

 

February 25, The Library, **Zayn**

The library was supposed to be a quiet place, honestly. But of course, Louis Tomlinson knew nothing about being quiet, and by now Zayn had come to terms with that fact. But the way Louis had come barreling in here, called his name so loud he’d gotten shushed and then made his way over to sit with Zayn was drawing far too much attention to Zayn. And completely taking the point out of studying alone so that he could brood in peace, honestly. Louis could be so selfish sometimes.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you, but you keep fucking ignoring me. What’s up with that?” Louis was asking in far louder than a library voice.

“I have not,” Zayn insisted, but the lie fell flat. Louis, luckily, didn’t push it.

“Whatever, the point is, we need to talk.”

“We do?” Zayn raised a brow, his eyes still scanning the book he’d been reading on Middle Eastern potions. He had to know this stuff for his OWL and he wasn’t going to just stop reading it because Louis wanted to gossip, or something.

“Yes. About Liam.”

And – oh. That was exactly why Zayn had been avoiding Louis (and Harry and Niall, too, honestly). He absolutely did not want to talk about Liam. Or too Liam. Or have anything to do with the guy ever again, just liked he’d promised himself that night when he’d walked him to Professor Quinn’s office.

“Why?” was all Zayn replied. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get Louis to drop this one; Louis was a persistent guy, and nothing if not protective over his best friend. It wasn’t a bad thing, honestly, but right now Zayn didn’t much want to deal with it. He was working on forgetting about it all and moving on, he didn’t need it being brought back to his attention.

“Because you like him, you fucker. And he likes you, he’s just a bit of an idiot sometimes, and he’s somehow convinced that you’re into that egghead Christian that you let back onto the Quidditch team.”

Zayn rolled his eyes, finally setting his book down on the table. “That’s stupid.”

“You’re telling me! But that’s why he did what he did,” Louis told him excitedly, throwing his hands in the air. Zayn wanted to reach over and cover his mouth so they’d stop getting so many looks, but he refrained. “And I need you to let him tell you that.”

“Louis, look. If Liam wanted to talk to me, he would’ve by now. Clearly he’s happy doing whatever with that closet guy, and honestly? Good for him. I’m getting the fuck over it.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Zayn, that wasn’t a real thing. That was like, a twenty-minute make-out session. And he hasn’t spoken to you because you kicked him off the team when you knew he needed it most.” Louis seemed to be getting frustrated.

“What was I supposed to do?” Zayn was frustrated right back.

“Talk to him, dumbass!”

“Whatever, Louis, I’m done talking about this.” Zayn picked up his book and started reading it once more.

“Fine,” Louis sighed. “Will you at least do me one favor?”

“What?” Zayn looked at him over the top of his book, trying to portray with his eyes how annoyed he was.

“Come get drunk with me tonight? Quidditch pitch at eleven?” Those stupid blue eyes were so fucking friendly and hopeful. Zayn wanted to puke.

“Fine, whatever,” he agreed begrudgingly. Honestly, he could use a few drinks.

“Excellent!” Louis stood, drawing the attention of the entire library once more. “See you tonight Zaynie!”

Everyone stared as Louis made his way back out of the library, but he didn’t seem to notice. Scrubbing his hand over his face, Zayn decidedly went back to reading and _not_ thinking about Liam. Or the things Louis had said.

None of it mattered.

 

\--

 

February 25, Hufflepuff Common Room, **Liam**

Hanging out with Niall was almost the same as hanging out with a large puppy dog. He was loyal and snuggly and playful, with fluffy hair that Liam could pet in order to make him happy and calm. These days, hanging out with Niall alone was sort of a haven that he’d come to really appreciate. Niall didn’t pester him with questions of what had happened and whether or not he was going to do something about it; Niall just treated him like he always had. Liam loved him for that, honestly. It was hard to find friends like Niall, and Liam knew he was lucky that he had. Not that he didn’t appreciate his other friends, of course. Liam still loved hanging out with them, and that was why that day when he and Niall were hanging out in the Hufflepuff Common Room and Harry had wandered in, he didn’t quite mind.

“Liam, mate, I need to talk to you,” Harry greeted, leaning over to give Niall a peck on the lips. Liam felt a surge of happiness for them, along with a bit of something else that he couldn’t place.

“Should I go?” Niall asked, and it hit Liam that Niall had no idea what Harry wanted. Interesting.

“Nah, babe, it’s cool,” Harry smiled, sitting on the couch with them.

“What d’you want to talk about?” Liam asked carefully. Though he and Harry had only become friends this year, Liam trusted him. But this wasn’t something that had ever happened before; honestly, Liam didn’t think he’d ever seen Harry so serious about anything other than what he was going to wear on his dates with Niall. It was sort of unnerving.

“Louis told me what happened with you and Zayn.” Cue an immediate pout from Niall; clearly he was still out of the loop.

“Why doesn’t anybody tell me anything?” Niall whined, and Harry hushed him with a kiss on the forehead.

“I’ll tell you later, Ni, lemme get to the point, okay?” Still pouting, Niall nodded and rested his head on Harry’s shoulder. Liam, meanwhile, was frowning. The last thing he wanted to talk about was Zayn. “Anyway, Liam. I think you should talk to him. Explain how you’d been feeling, you know? Tell him you’re sorry.”

“What makes you think I’m sorry?” Liam challenged, arms crossed over his chest.

“Because you’ve been sulking about it for over two weeks now. You miss him and we all know it. So just explain yourself, I’m pretty sure he’ll be forgiving. He likes you just as much as you like him, you know,” Harry replied calmly. Sometimes it was exhausting listening to Harry talk. It wasn’t because he didn’t make good points or because he wasn’t a smart guy, he just spoke so slowly and with such a soothing voice that it literally started to put you to sleep.

“Even if I wanted to apologize, Zayn hates me. He kicked me off the Quidditch team, Harry, right when he knew I needed it the most. That doesn’t seem very fucking understanding to me,” Liam spat back, getting frustrated. He wasn’t about to go crawling back to someone who had taken something he’d told them in confidence and used it against him. “He took away the only thing I had. How is that fair?”

“He was hurt, Li, it was his defense mechanism. Doesn’t make it right, but he was acting out of anger. Just talk to him.”

“Nah,” Liam stood up. “I don’t think I want to.”

“You should talk to him, Liam. I wanna see you happy again,” Niall spoke up, his voice small from where he was looking up at Liam from Harry’s chest. That almost made Liam waver.

“Sorry, Ni. I gotta go.” He started towards the door, but Harry called after him once more, and Liam turned to look.

“Liam, wait – Louis also told me to tell you that we’re gonna drink on the pitch tonight. Eleven-thirty. You in?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Liam sighed, turning back towards the door and pushing it open. “See you guys later.”

He could probably use a few drinks.

 

\--

 

February 25, The Quidditch Pitch

The whole way out to the pitch, Liam didn’t see a single soul. Not even a ghost, luckily. He was frankly sort of shocked that Zayn didn’t catch him and turn him in for the second time this month, but he was definitely grateful. Tonight was going to be about forgetting, and that definitely wouldn’t have helped him out. It was about exactly eleven-thirty when he stepped onto the pitch, and much to his surprise, everybody was already there – everybody including Zayn.

Nobody had noticed his presence yet, and Liam paused, staring. The four were sitting in a circle on the ground with a spot between Louis and Harry that seemed like it was meant for him. Zayn was holding the bottle, taking a long drink from it. If he wanted, Liam could turn and run back to the castle without any of them noticing. He could easily tell them that he’d fallen asleep early and that’s why he’d never showed up.

But he took too long to contemplate, and of course, Louis turned to look at him. Shit.

“Liam!” Louis shouted – too loudly for a cover, late night meeting – and popped up in his seat. Zayn practically choked on the alcohol, pulling the bottle from his lips and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of the dribble on his chin. Niall reached over to pat his back, and before Liam knew it Louis was standing next to him and pushing him towards the circle.

“What is he doing here?” Liam whispered angrily.

“Be a good sport, Liam,” was all Louis said back, not even bothering to whisper. He led Liam to the empty spot in the circle and practically shoved him down into a sitting position before plopping down next to him like it was all no big deal. But it was.

“Um, I should – ,” Zayn was starting to stand up, and all Liam could do was stare.

“Absolutely not!” Louis shouted, and Niall tugged him back down. Louis then reached for the bottle and took a swig. “We should do this more often.”

Liam reached over and snatched the bottle away, taking an even longer drink than the one he’d seen Zayn take when he had arrived. If this was how tonight was going to go, he definitely need it. For good measure he took one last sip before he passed it on to Harry. The flavor of the Firewhisky was burning his throat, but Liam didn’t care. If he was going to get through this he needed much more than what he’d just drank, and he was going to have to deal with that burn. Honestly, it was a lot easier to deal with than the fact that Zayn was here and Liam couldn’t talk to him. Not like they used to, anyway. He couldn’t sit pressed up against his side or play with his hair or link their fingers – all because he’d fucked up. He really, truly fucked up, and he knew that now. If he valued his own happiness at all, he never would’ve done that to their relationship, never would’ve intentionally done something to screw things up with Zayn. His deepest regret, though, was how badly he’d hurt Zayn. Zayn didn’t deserve that, and he had known it all along – he just hadn’t wanted to admit it. Didn’t want to let Zayn in enough to hurt him. Everything was Liam’s fault.

“So how was everybody’s day?” Harry asked suddenly, as if trying to liven up the mood. It didn’t work.

“Fine,” Liam mumbled.

“You were with me all day, Haz,” Niall laughed, leaning on his boyfriend who just rolled his eyes.

“It was pretty good,” Louis shrugged, oblivious to Harry’s intentions. Zayn was silent.

“Great. Good talk, guys,” Harry said sarcastically, hand running through Niall’s hair. “This was so fun last time, why can’t you guys be fun again?”

The bottle had finally reached Liam once more, and he took another swig from it, much smaller this time, before passing it on. Then he stood up. “I’m gonna go back, I think. You guys were having fun before I got here, and… Yeah. See ya.”

There were a few calls of protest from everyone who wasn’t Zayn, but Liam ignored them as he turned around and took a few steps towards the exit of the stadium. It wasn’t too long before he realized just how much he’d drank, and he felt the entire world flip upside down after he tripped over himself and fell onto the ground. And – well, ouch, was all that could really describe it. “Shit.”

In an instant there were a pair of hands on his shoulders, helping him up, and if Liam were to guess he’d say they were Louis’. Liam was definitely bigger than him, but the guy had a lot of force to him, there was no denying it. But Liam didn’t see the face, so he really didn’t know – it could’ve just as easily been Niall or Harry. Until he heard their voice.

“Just hold onto my side, yeah?” Zayn told him softly, and Liam felt an arm wrap around his waist. He nodded dumbly, doing as he was told and gripping Zayn’s side. “I’m gonna walk you inside. No way you’ll make it alone.”

“Okay,” Liam replied quietly – mostly because he knew Zayn was right. Zayn looked over his shoulder and waved a small goodbye to the other boys, who had been very noticeably quiet since Liam had taken his tumble. Good on them, Liam thought.

“You sure? I can do it,” Louis offered, but Zayn shook his head.

“I’m the only one who knows the common room password,” he explained. “And I’m a prefect.”

Louis just nodded his agreement, and the pair started to slowly make their way out of the stadium and across the lawn, Liam still clinging to Zayn’s side and Zayn still holding onto Liam’s waist. There was a part of Liam that wanted to burst into tears, because Zayn was just so nice to him, even after what Liam had done to him – to _them_. He didn’t deserve this at all, but here Zayn was. Next to him the entire way.

When they got close to the castle, Zayn steered them towards a bench and helped Liam to sit down on it, sitting next to him.

“Need a little break,” he explained quietly, and yeah, Liam could understand that. He was a bit bigger than Zayn, and he wasn’t honestly sure how Zayn was able to support him at all, but he wasn’t going to question it – he was far too grateful. “Just gimme a sec.”

“You don’t have to come with me, you know,” Liam replied just as quietly.

“Huh? Liam, you’ll never make it alone.”

“Why are you being so _nice_ to me?” It was like Zayn froze then, his eyes wide as he looked at Liam for a moment. Liam wasn’t really sure what he was expecting as an answer, or if he even thought Zayn would have one for him, but the question had sort of just slipped out. Blame it on the alcohol.

“I don’t really know,” Zayn admitted finally with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’m really fucking mad at you, Liam, like – I thought – I thought there was something _here_ , and then you just – “

“You left me for Christian,” Liam explained. He felt himself sobering up pretty quickly at the honesty of the situation. “You left me for someone you’ve been with in the past, so I just thought – “

“You thought that entire day was just a joke to me? I just wanted to get him to leave us alone.”

“No, I mean, I guess, but – then you kicked me off the team, and I was sure that meant you didn’t really _care_ , and – “

“I was _angry_. I was hurt. I was being stupid. Like you were being stupid.” Zayn seemed as exasperated as Liam felt.

“So you’re not still into Christian?” There was more hope in Liam’s voice than he liked, but he needed to know. He wasn’t even sure it would change anything if Zayn said no, but he still just needed to know.

“No. I – shit, Liam, I’m into _you_. I really liked holding your hand, and I like making you laugh and when we were sitting on that bench in Hogsmeade?” Zayn let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. “All I wanted was for you to kiss me.”

“You mean ‘boyfriend’,” Liam replied, a smile starting to grow on his face.

“Huh?” They met eyes.

“You want to be boyfriends,” he said simply.

“I – oh, yeah, I guess I do.” It was the first time Liam had ever heard Zayn stumble over his words, and he liked that he’d caused it. He wanted to do that some more. He leaned in the slightest bit.

“If I kiss you on this bench, does it still count?” Liam asked cheekily. Zayn laughed.

“I dunno. Why don’t you find out?”

They were both grinning as Liam leaned in even further, and at the last second Zayn met him in the middle, their lips pressing against each other at last. Their teeth knocked against each other a bit since they were both smiling so hard, but it was still amazing. To think that they could’ve been doing this for weeks now was a huge motivator for Liam as he kissed Zayn on that bench with as much fervor he could, given his still mostly drunken state. In all honesty, he never wanted to pull away – kissing Zayn was one of the best things he’d ever done, he was sure – but at the same time, he knew they couldn’t sit there forever.

“That okay?” he breathed, not pulling away more than a few centimeters. Zayn nodded enthusiastically and Liam couldn’t help the giggle that escaped his lips.

“More than,” Zayn murmured right back. They met eyes, and Liam grinned even harder than he already was. Leaning in, he pecked Zayn on the lips once more. It was actually sort of ridiculous that all it had taken to get them back to this place was a stupid after hours meet-up that they hadn’t known each other was attending and a bottle of liquor, but Liam didn’t care. His heart felt like it could fly away on a pair of wings, and that was all that mattered. “You wanna head inside?”

Liam nodded and stood up. He was still light headed, but he was no longer sure it was because of the alcohol – it was probably also from how happy he was. And this time when they started walking into the castle together they clung to each other not because Liam couldn’t walk, but more because they could. And they wanted to. And it was nice to be so close, Liam’s face buried in Zayn’s neck as they tip-toed all the way back to the Ravenclaw common room. Obviously they hadn’t solved everything, but they had time – they had so much time. They could talk it all over in the morning, and Liam would apologize. He was pretty sure that there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do in order to make it up to Zayn; he just wanted to make sure that that wasn’t the last time he’d get to kiss him. Now that he’d done it once, he wanted to do it a million and a half times. More, even.

When they entered the common room, neither headed for their dormitories. Instead, Liam tugged Zayn over to the couch, giggling as they fell onto the cushions. Zayn immediately tucked into Liam’s side and Liam wrapped an arm around his shoulders thinking that it should always be this way. It should have always been this way.

“I don’t wanna go to bed yet,” Liam told him, looking down into his eyes.

“Yeah, me neither,” Zayn agreed, smiling up at him. “I feel like we’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”

“We will,” Liam promised, a hand coming up to rest on Zayn’s stubbly cheek. It struck him then just how beautiful Zayn was. Of course he’d noticed before that Zayn was attractive, but right then with the moonlight shining in the window and Zayn practically in his lap with his lips pink from kissing, Liam really noticed. He was pretty sure your vision was supposed to go to crap when you were drinking, but Zayn was the clearest image he’d ever seen. “You’re absolutely beautiful, you know that?”

“Shut up,” Zayn blushed, and it was one of the prettiest things Liam had ever seen. “You’re drunk.”

“So what? Aren’t people more honest when they’re drunk?” Liam teased, poking Zayn’s chest.

“Just – ,“ Zayn cut himself off, kissing Liam once more. This time there was more force to it, more want. Liam kissed him right back, sliding a hand to the back of Zayn’s neck to tangle with the hairs there. He felt Zayn’s tongue slide between his lips and he opened them further to allow him access. They stayed like that for a while, lips on lips and tongue on tongue, happy to be able to kiss like this finally without worrying about anything at all. After a while, though, Liam felt Zayn start to move around in his seat, but he didn’t pull away. And before Liam knew it, he had a solid body sitting in his lap, and he really didn’t mind that at all.

Zayn’s hands rested on Liam’s shoulders for a moment and Liam moved his own to grip Zayn’s hips, keeping him steady. He felt Zayn slowly sliding his hands down Liam’s chest, to his stomach, his waist, and – oh. Zayn’s fingers slipped under the waistband of Liam’s sweatpants and Zayn pulled back, looking Liam in the eye.

“This alright?” he asked, and Liam nodded, leaning back in to kiss Zayn once more. He lifted his hips the slightest bit off of the couch to allow Zayn to slide his sweatpants and boxers down, revealing his already half-hard cock. The moment Zayn wrapped his hand around him Liam breathed in sharply. Zayn started to stroke him slowly, and Liam slid one of his own hands from where it rested on Zayn’s hip to in between his legs, where he could feel that Zayn, too, was getting hard. He took it upon himself, then, to unbutton Zayn’s jeans and slide them down enough that he could get his own hand around his cock. He pulled away then, enough so that he could look Zayn in the eye. The pretty blush was back on his face, his bottom lip between his teeth, and Liam was sure he’d never met anyone so beautiful.

“Shit, Zayn,” he practically moaned. It’d been awhile since he’d actually been with someone, and being with Zayn like this was better than anything he’d experienced in the past.

“Like that, babe?” That had to be one of the hottest things Liam had ever heard, and the way Zayn’s face morphed into a smirk told him that it was probably pretty obvious.

“Yeah – fuck – yeah, I do,” Liam nodded, speeding up the movement of his hand a bit. He felt the pad of Zayn’s thumb slide over his tip and he shuddered; he wasn’t going to last much longer, probably. Zayn leaned in towards his ear, nipping on his lobe.

“Next time, I wanna use my mouth,” he whispered, and Liam was pretty sure his eyes rolled back into his head, his hand movements stuttering. It was then that Zayn removed his hand from his cock, and instead began to stroke them both with one of his own. The friction between them rubbing against each other along with the feeling of Zayn’s hand stroking him was bringing Liam to the edge by the millisecond. “C’mon, Li, cum for me, babe.”

“God, Zayn -- ,” Liam stuttered, and after only a few more strokes he was coating his t-shirt and Zayn with his cum. After watching that, it didn’t take long for Zayn to join him with a moan of Liam’s name. Afterwards, he practically collapsed on top of Liam, the two of them panting in a pile as they came down from their highs. Liam was sure he was 100% sober by then, as he felt no signs of the alcohol but only Zayn all over him. They were sticky and sweaty, but Liam couldn’t help but smile, lazily rubbing Zayn’s back for a moment.

“We should clean up,” Zayn murmured, his face buried in Liam’s neck, but he made no movement to get up.

“Wait,” Liam told him, reaching into his pocket to pull out his wand. “ _Accio washcloth_.”

A moment later, the cloth floated into the room from the direction of his bedroom and landed in his hand. Zayn giggled and Liam grinned, pushing him back slightly so that he could wipe the two of them off before handing it to Zayn so that he could clean his hand.

“You wanna go to sleep, babe? You look exhausted,” Zayn commented, reaching out to run his thumb over Liam’s jaw. But Liam wasn’t ready to part with Zayn; they’d only just worked things out a little over an hour ago, and he wanted to spend as much time with him as he possibly could now. Like Zayn had said, they had a lot of lost time to make up for.

“Why don’t you come with me?” he asked finally, canting his head to the side as he watched Zayn think about it.

“Love to,” Zayn replied after a moment, smiling his real smile that Liam loved so much; the one with the crinkly eyes and his tongue poking out. Liam couldn’t help but smile, too.

After standing up and fixing themselves, Zayn slipped into his own room to change into pajamas, and Liam did the same. All he really did was toss his dirty t-shirt and washcloth in the laundry bin, but still. Then, he stood outside his door to wait for Zayn, who appeared moments later in his own sweatpants, without a shirt but with a sheepish smile.

“I get kind of hot when I sleep,” he admitted quietly, and Liam just giggled.

“Me too.”

They quietly headed into Liam’s dormitory and slid into his bed, pulling the blankets up to cover them both as they cuddled together. Zayn slipped his arm around Liam’s waist and rested his head on his chest. Liam wrapped his arms around Zayn’s body and settled his head into his pillow, yawning.

“Night, Zaynie.”

“Night babe.”

 

\--

 

February 26, Ravenclaw Dormitory

Liam woke with the sun; it’s light hitting his eyes through the window next to his bed. It took him a moment to open them, but once he felt the soft hair on his shoulder and soft finger pads on his waist, he had to look. Everything from last night came flooding back to him and he felt a surge of happiness course through his veins. He wasn’t quite sure how Zayn was still asleep. But he didn’t wake him, keeping as still as possible. He just looked so peaceful sleeping with his head on Liam’s chest and his limbs wrapped loosely around him. Liam was pretty sure that he had had the best night’s sleep in a while last night, all because of how comfortable he was curled up with Zayn. And if he thought Zayn looked beautiful last night in the common room, he hadn’t anticipated how beautiful Zayn would look right now. Liam loved everything about this, from the way Zayn’s soft hair tickled his skin, to the way his stubble felt against his chest and the way Zayn’s fingers held onto his body even in his sleep. Liam stayed like that for a few minutes, just admiring everything that he held in his arms and how lucky he was to have it.

“You’re staring,” Zayn mumbled suddenly, practically making Liam jump. He smiled, unashamed, and started rubbing Zayn’s back gently.

“You’re gorgeous,” Liam countered. Zayn shifted, burying his face further into Liam’s chest.

“Shut up, Liam, I’m sleeping.” But there was no heat in Zayn’s voice, rather something Liam could only attribute to fondness. He gave Zayn a small squeeze.

“Alright. Go back to sleep, babe.” He kissed the top of Zayn’s head.

“Thank you.” Zayn pressed a kiss to his chest, and Liam was very glad that this wasn’t just a dream.

 

\--

 

**Epilogue**

September 20, Ravenclaw Dormitory, **Zayn**

All day, Liam had been stressing. He’d paced around the common room after they’d woken up, he’d hardly touched his breakfast, and ever since they got back to their room he’d been working out. First it’d been sit-ups, then pull-ups off of the doorframe, and now he was on to push-ups. Zayn was watching from his bed (they’d somehow convinced Andrew to switch with him at the start of the new year; Zayn was pretty sure he’d only agreed because he hated listening to Liam and Zayn whispering to each other through the night), a book in hand that he wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to. The only upside of Liam’s compulsive exercising was that Zayn got to watch, and honestly, he never minded that. But he did feel a bit bad that his boyfriend was freaking out, and he wanted to help somehow. He hadn’t quite figured it out until he found himself wishing he were underneath Liam, and well…

Getting up from where he lay, Zayn tossed his book onto the bed and went over to sit in front of Liam. Liam gave him a puzzled look, but didn’t stop what he was doing. So Zayn took it upon himself to slowly slide himself under Liam, feet first. Liam had to adjust so that Zayn could fit, and he still looked like he didn’t quite understand what Zayn was doing, but he went along with it bless his heart. Once Zayn was situated, he grinned up at Liam.

“Keep going, then,” he ordered, and Liam did so. But this time, when he came down, Zayn pursed his lips and gave him a kiss. That, thank goodness, made Liam smile – possibly for the first time that day. It was working. They stayed quiet for a few more push-ups, grinning at each other and kissing on each one. “You don’t – ,” kiss “ – have to – ,” kiss, “ – worry so much – ,“ kiss, “ – you know?”

Liam paused, hovering above Zayn and catching his breath for a moment. Honestly, Zayn was a little bit concerned about just how worked up Liam was getting; he wanted him to relax. To have some confidence in himself. He used to think Liam had all the confidence in the world, but ever since they had gotten together Zayn could tell that most of it was a façade. Liam doubted himself just as much as everybody else did, but Zayn didn’t want him to; he saw all of the good in the world centered in Liam.

“I just want to win,” Liam said finally, looking down into Zayn’s eyes. “I really want us to beat Slytherin today. Not just because it’s the first game of the year, either, because I just _need_ this.”

“I know you do, Li,” Zayn agreed, reaching up to rest his hands on the back of Liam’s neck. His hair had grown out a bit over the past year, and it was in a short sort of quaff these days that Zayn really liked. “But we will. We’re a good team. You’re a good player. We’re going to beat them.”

There was some sort of recognition in Liam’s eyes that told Zayn that he knew he was right, but Zayn also knew that he was still going to be nervous about it. In a split second decision, Zayn reached up his legs and wrapped them around Liam’s waist, pulling him down into a deeper kiss than the ones previous. Liam squawked, but after a moment he was complying and kissing Zayn back, but holding himself up enough that he wasn’t crushing him. Liam was so thoughtful sometimes.

Zayn kissed him like that for a few moments until he decided that maybe they should breathe, and he pulled away just the slightest so that he could look right into Liam’s eyes. Maybe the way Liam was panting far more heavily now than after he’d been doing push-ups made Zayn smirk just the slightest bit, but that was entirely justified; having that sort of effect over your muscular boyfriend was absolutely something to be proud of.

“Feel any more relaxed?” he asked innocently.

“Just a bit, yeah,” Liam laughed, nudging Zayn with his nose. “Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Zayn grinned, craning his head up to kiss the tip of Liam’s nose. “Does this mean you’re gonna stop working out, though? ‘Cause that was pretty hot.”

Liam laughed, louder this time, burying his face into the crook of Zayn’s neck and giving him a squeeze. “Oh was it?”

“Absolutely,” Zayn grinned into Liam’s shoulder, squeezing him right back. This was the way things were supposed to be.

He couldn’t wait to celebrate tonight, after they won.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed that! any additional feedback can be sent to my tumblr, cashzayn. have a great day :~)


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